i897. SOME NEW BOOKS. 417 



Papilionidae, would be set over against all the other families, as 

 retaining in iinaginal, pupal, and larval stages, a number of peculiar 

 primitive features. But except for the position of the Papilionid group, 

 it is of great interest to observe how closely Mr. Grote's view of the 

 relationships of the families of butterflies agrees with the scheme, 

 founded on pupal structure, lately put forward by Dr. Chapman.' 

 Both authors reject Bates' arrangement founded entirely on the 

 development of the front legs of the imago, and instead of considering 

 the Lycaenidae and Lemoniidas intermediate between the Pieridae and 

 Nymphalidae, regard them as representing an offshoot not far above 

 the Hesperiid stem ; while they both place the Pieridae much closer to 

 the Nymphalidae and allied families than to the Papilionidae with 

 which they were classed by Bates. 



In the faunistic portion of his work, Mr. Grote enumerates 

 eighty species of butterfly to be found in the neighbourhood of 

 Hildesheim — ten more than occur in the whole of the British Isles. 



G. H. C. 



The Mosses of North America. 



Analytic Keys to the Genera and Species of North American Mosses. By 

 C. R. Barnes and F. D. Heald. Bull. University of Wisconsin. Pp. x., 157-368. 

 Madison. December, 1896. Price i del. 



This is an official publication of the University of Wisconsin and 

 forms a section of Vol. I. of its Bulletin (Science series). It consists 

 of three parts — a Key to the Genera (now in its third edition), a Key 

 to the Species (second edition), and a bulky Appendix containing 603 

 descriptions of species and varieties, which have been added to the 

 North American Moss-flora between the date of publication of 

 Lesquereux and James's " Manual of the Mosses of North America " 

 (Boston, 1884), and the end of the year 1895. The Keys are intended 

 to be employed in combination with the Manual, and in this function 

 they make good what was a serious omission from that book — an 

 omission which was not unnatural in view of the misfortunes which 

 prematurely put an end to the work of the projectors of the Manual. 

 Professor Barnes's Keys have been in public use for some years and 

 have been of material assistance for the rapid determination of species. 

 In their new and extended form they have gained much in value, and 

 have almost been brought into line with our present knowledge of the 

 North American moss-flora. Since the publication of the Manual 

 copious additions have been made to the total of goo species described 

 in that work. Of these additions Mr. Heald has collected the descrip- 

 tions and placed them in systematic order in the appendix, for which 

 kindly office he deserves the gratitude of all who are interested in 

 North American mosses, but especially of those who have not access 

 to the periodicals in which these descriptions are scattered. It is 

 probable that many of the species recently described will upon further 

 investigation be found untenable. Indeed the work of destruction has 

 already begun. In the genus Dicvantim, for instance, seventeen out of 

 eighteen species described as new in a Canadian catalogue by a 

 European bryologist have been reduced. This is an extreme case no 

 doubt, but it serves to shew that there is no great demand for new 

 species of mosses in the United States, whatever may be the case with 

 new species of other organisms. But be that as it may, the Analytic 

 Keys have been carefully and intelligently constructed, and are well 



1 Entom. Record, vol. vi., pp. 150-2, 1895. 



