366 SOME NEW BOOKS [NOVEMBER 
VARIATIONS IN BUTTERFLIES. 
Ueber einige Aberrationen von Papilio machaon. By Prof. J. W. SPENGEL. 
48 pp. 3 pls. Jena: G. Fischer, 1899. Price 2 m. 50 pf. 
Dr. Spengel’s valuable paper on varieties of the common European 
“ Swallowtail” Butterfly, which appeared in the Zoologische Jahrbiicher, will 
be welcomed by entomologists in this separate form. After a careful 
description of the wing-markings and their position with regard to the nervures 
in typical examples of P. machaon, the author proceeds to an account of the 
various named aberrations which have been met with, his remarks being 
illustrated with excellent coloured figures. Specially noteworthy are the forms 
evittata, in which the black and blue sub-marginal bands are wanting ; 
nigrofasciata, a melanistic form in which the red eye-spot of the hind wing 
tends to disappear ; and nigra, in which all the wing-surfaces are suffused with 
black. Evidence is brought forward to show that the production of the 
melanic varieties does not depend necessarily on low temperature. The very 
remarkable form, e/wnata, is a monstrosity in which the wing-nervures are 
most imperfectly developed, they almost vanish towards the hind margin of 
the wing, and the sub-marginal dark band shows accordingly no segmentation. 
Dr. Spengel has materially advanced our knowledge of a fascinating subject. 
Gee 
THE AFFINITIES OF THE TERMITES. 
We have received the second and third parts of Mr. W. W. Froggatt’s 
monograph of the Australian Termitidae (Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S. W., 1896, 1897), 
comprising the general classification of the family and a detailed description of 
the known Australian species. In his discussion of the relationship of the 
Termites to other insects, Mr. Froggatt leans to the view that they have closer 
affinities to earwigs and cockroaches than to any other group, and that they 
should therefore be included among the Orthoptera rather than among the 
** Pseudo-neuroptera.” 
AUSTRALIAN ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY. 
Mr. Froggatt is also devoting attention to injurious insects in New South 
Wales. A paper by him on “ Gall-producing Insects,” with special reference to 
Coccids, is published in the Agricultural Gazette, N.S.W., 1898, while 
in conjunction with Messrs. Allen, Blunno, and Guthrie, he has issued an 
excellent illustrated pamphlet on “Insect and Fungus Diseases of Fruit-trees.” 
The various pests are grouped according to the trees which they injure. Each 
species is clearly figured, and the best means for clearing the orchards is plainly 
described. 
DIARY OF TWO ORNITHOLOGISTS. 
Bird Life in an Arctic Spring. The Diaries of Dan Meinertzaghen and 
R. P. Hornby. Crown 8vo, pp. 150. London: R. H. Porter, 1899. 
This dainty little volume has been published as a memorial of Dan 
Meinertzhagen, who recently succumbed to a brief illness at the early age of 
twenty-three. He was always devoted to birds, and had made a special study 
of the Raptores, upon which he hoped to complete a Monograph. But the 
material which has found its way into print is a literal transcript of a private 
journal kept during a visit paid to Finland in the summer of 1897, supple- 
mented by the notes of the young sportsman who shared his hardships. The 
