RECENT LITERATURE. 397 
students. Yet, though fully appreciating the illustrations of the late 
Charles Barrett’s great work on British Lepidoptera, we are bound 
to confess that, with the facilities now afforded M. Culot, a very 
much higher degree of excellence would have been attained, while 
Mr. Tutt, of course, has barely touched the subject of this mono- 
graph, and his later volumes have not the advantage of coloured illus- 
trations. We can, therefore, the more confidently recommend the 
method adopted by M. Culot, which relies less upon highly technical 
and meticulous descriptions than colour presentations to record 
individual characters, and cordially advise those of our readers who 
are interested in the subject to apply for full and further particulars 
from the author and illustrator, Villa-les-Iris, Grand Pré, Geneva. 
H. B.-B. 
Butterflies and Moths of the United Kingdom. By W. Eamont 
Kirpy, M.D. Pp. ili. and 2-468. With seventy coloured 
plates. Medium 8vo. London: George Routledge & Sons, Ltd. 
In these days of general entomological progress, one expects that 
the latest book on the lepidopterous fauna of a country should, as its 
raison d’étre, exhibit either distinctive features in illustration, or some 
novel method of presenting the subject. The introduction of some 
coloured figures of larvee among those of the imagines on the plates, 
as has been done in the inexpensive volume before us, is certainly a 
welcome innovation that will appeal to the nature lover for whom, 
chiefly, the book has been produced. 
A specimen, and occasionally a variety, of very nearly every 
species of moth and butterfly (Macro-Lepidoptera old style) occurring 
in the United Kingdom may be found on the coloured plates. Some of 
the ‘“‘Micros”’ also are depicted (Plates lxv.Iyx.). It would not perhaps 
have lessened the practical utility of the book if some at least of the 
latter had not been given. For example, the figures on plate Ixvi. are 
all wrongly named in the text, also in the list of plates and in the 
index. Twenty-seven species are represented on this plate, and the 
numbering runs from 1 to 18, then 32 to 40. In the list the numbers 
for this plate run from 1 to 27, and according to it, and to the text, 
fig. 1 shows Botys lwpulina, but this species is really fig. 32 on the 
plate. Figs. 36 and 37 seem to be B. ruralis and 6. lancealis 
respectively, but text and list indicate figs. 5 and 6 as these species. 
Although very many of the plates are distinctly good, others can 
only be referred to as medium. On the whole, however, the number 
of figures that are really unsatisfactory is not excessive. 
Turning to the text, we are bound to say that we fail to find very little 
that will be new to the student of British Lepidoptera. The imago 
and the larva of each species are more or less briefly described, but 
we think that variation of the imago, especially of polymorphic 
species, should have been treated more fully. Distribution, too, is of 
greater importance, even to the tyro, than our author seems to 
consider it. 
We wonder why Salmacis and Artaxerzes are set down as species 
distinct from Polyommatus alexis, Scop. (Lycena astrarche), whilst 
Cidaria ammanata is figured as a form of C. truncata and not even 
mentioned in the text. 
