1893. SOME NEW BOOKS. 229 
for example, which extends over six pages, and in which the 
differences are often relative, a few good outlines would be ‘invaluable 
tothe beginner. We could also wish to see figures of the immature 
stages of some of the Hemiptera. 
The descriptions are occasionally relieved by accounts of habits, 
and a full list of the known British localities for each species is given. 
In a group so comparatively little worked, these localities are at 
present, probably, as much a guide to the distribution of hemipterists 
as to that of Hemiptera; the southern counties of England, and 
Norfolk, however, seem to have been so well searched that species 
absent from them may be presumed to have a northern or western 
range in the British Islands. It isa pity that Mr. Saunders has not 
given at least the outlines of the distribution of each species abroad. 
A knowledge of this must go hand in hand with that of the British 
range of an animal, to enable the student to form conclusions as to 
the relative age of allied forms, and the time and method of the intro- 
duction of the various elements of our fauna. Mr. Saunders, in his 
hints on collection and preservation, lays stress on the necessity for 
recording localities. It is to be hoped that collectors will all take his 
advice. Entomologists now, happily, recognise that the value of a 
specimen is vastly increased when its locality is known; the patient 
accumulation of such records may furnish invaluable material for 
future workers at animal distribution and its allied problems. 
Altogether Mr. Saunders’ work must be considered a most 
valuable addition to the literature of the British fauna. 
THE FAUNA OF BRITISH INDIA, INCLUDING CEYLON AND BurMA: Motus. Vol. I. 
By G.F. Hampson. 8vo. Pp. xxiv. and 527, with 333 woodcuts. London: 
Taylor & Francis, 1892. 
Tuis is the first volume on invertebrate animals which has appeared 
in the excellent series of Indian faunistic works edited by Dr. W. T. 
Blanford. It contains synopses of the families of moths, and of the 
Indian genera and species of most of the families included under the 
terms Sphinges and Bombyces. Mr. Hampson, however, rejects all 
tribal divisions of the Lepidoptera except the primary separation 
into butterflies (Rhopalocera) and moths (Heterocera), and he appears 
to consider the groups of Noctuids, Geometers, Pyralids, &c., as of 
only family, and not tribal, value. 
After a short introduction on the external anatomy of the Lepi- 
doptera, there isa ‘“‘tree’’ showing the supposed relationships between 
the families of moths, followed by a table in which these families are 
differentiated, mostly by the neuration of the wings. Mr. Hampson has 
followed, in the main, the classification propounded by Snellen in his 
‘‘Vlinders van Nederland.” British lepidopterists will notice that here, 
as in Mr. Kirby’s recent ‘‘ Catalogue of Lepidoptera Heterocera,”’ the 
Sphingide are deposed from their place at the head of the moths, and 
placed next the Notodontida. In Mr. Hampson’s genetic tree the 
Saturniide appear at the head of one high branch, while the Epicopiide, 
Uraniide, and Geometride figure at the summit of the other. The 
Micropterygide and Hepialide are considered the lowest families, 
though removed from the main stem, on which the Tineide take the 
lowest place. 
The descriptions of the genera and species are illustrated by 
cuts, the pattern of the wings being generally shown on one side, 
and their neuration on the other; details of the antennez, palps, &c., 
