i8 9 6. SOME NEW BOOKS. 127 



the specialists in a few years' time. The old division of the Hymenop- 

 tera into terebrant and aculeate sub-orders is abandoned for the more 

 natural division into groups with sessile and petiolate abdomens. 



The remarks on fossil insects might have been somewhat 

 fuller, and no figures are given of the primaeval forms which are 

 classed by Scudder as Palaeodictyoptera. However, Dr. Sharp 

 mentions the difficulties of interpreting these insect remains, as well as 

 the views of Brogniart and others that they are better classed in dis- 

 tinct families distributed among certain of our existing orders. 

 Altogether, Dr. Sharp has produced a book to which the British 

 worker at entomology will, in the first place, turn for information ; in 

 which the intelligent reader will find justification for the deep saying 

 of Augustine 1 — comparing "grubs" with " angels" — which has been 

 chosen as the motto of the volume. 



Geo. H. Carpenter. 



Burmese Spiders. 



Descriptive Catalogue of the Spiders of Burma, based upon the collection 

 made by Eugene W. Oates, and preserved in the British Museum. By T. 

 Thorell. Pp. xxxvi., 406. London, 1895. Printed by order of the Trustees. 

 Price 1 os. 6d. 



Any publication on Arachnida from the pen of Professor T. Thorell 

 will be hailed as a valuable contribution to arachnological science, 

 especially as in the work now under notice the productions of a region 

 like that of Burma are not only for the first time systematically 

 collated, but the number of known species in the Order (Araneidea) 

 treated upon increased from 175 to 381. Of Mr. Oates's collection, 

 numbering 310 species, 153 are described as new to science and 206 

 new to Burma, 19 new genera being also characterised. The 

 collection was chiefly made at Tharrawaddy, about 70 miles north 

 of Rangoon, in what used to be called British Burma, but now, since 

 the annexation of the whole country, is termed Lower Burma. With 

 the exception of a short introduction, in which Dr. Thorell explains 

 the classification he has followed in the present work, some remarks 

 on zoological nomenclature, a reference to the literature already 

 published on Burmese spiders, and a note on the general character 

 of the Burmese spider-fauna, the volume before us consists 

 simply of a series of scientific descriptions, drawn up in Latin and 

 detailed with the author's well-known minuteness and accuracy ; 

 it is therefore pre-eminently a work for the working araneologist. 

 It is maintained by some zoologists that illustrations are quite 

 unnecessary where natural objects are fully and properly 

 described ; but, unquestionably, well-executed drawings are of 

 incalculable assistance, and not only save the scientific worker 

 much valuable time, but are a great attraction to others, and 

 may often be the means of inducing those who may chance to 

 have the opportunity, to turn their attention to the observation and 

 collection of the objects delineated. It seems strange, therefore, that 

 the Trustees of the British Museum, having the materials in their 

 own hands, should have permitted a work like the present to be 

 issued without a single illustration of any kind. 



With respect to the character of the Burmese spider-fauna as at 

 present known, out of the 381 species described, 106, or rather over 



1 " Creavit in ccelo Angelos, in terra vermiculos : non superior in illis, non 

 inferior in istis. Sicut enim nulla manus Angelum ita nulla posset creare 

 vermiculum." 



