1897] SOME NEW BOOKS 207 
it “impossible to do more than describe and figure a selection of 
species belonging to various families.” 
It is a considerable disappointment to find that in his classification 
of the noctuids and geometers, Mr Kirby closely follows the arrange- 
ment proposed forty years ago by Guenée, instead of availing himself 
of the work of those modern writers who have critically studied the 
structure of these moths. There is probably hardly a serious student 
of the noctuids who would not closely associate the genera which 
Guenée distributed between his two “families,” Apameidae and 
Hadenidae; yet Mr Kirby treats these assemblages as sub-families, 
and separates them widely in his series. It is sincerely to be hoped 
that in the coming volumes of his great catalogue of the lepidoptera 
Mr Kirby will adopt a more modern classification. Otherwise the 
value of his work will be seriously diminished. 
It could not be expected that much space would be devoted to the 
habits of the moths which are mentioned, but a few notes of consider- 
able interest on this subject are given by Mr Kirby. He has rescued 
from a long obscurity an account published in 1830 by the Rey. L. 
Guilding on the aquatic larva of a West Indian pearl-moth (Petrophila 
fluviatilis). He also calls attention to de Riville’s account, published 
nearly one hundred and fifty years ago, of a Mediterranean Antispila, 
whose caterpillar mines in vine leaves. 
A large number of species are figured in the coloured plates, a good 
proportion of them for the first time. Though the effect of some of the 
colouring is rough, and there is a want of uniformity in the setting of 
the specimen, these figures will be helpful for the determination of 
species. Mr Kirby’s wide knowledge of insects and their literature 
must needs make his writings useful to naturalists, even if they do 
not care to adopt all the changes in well-known names which he 
believes to be necessary. GG. BisciG 
A BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ENIGMA 
MANUEL DE GEOGRAPHIE BOTANIQUE. Par Oscar Drude. Traduit par Georges 
Poirault et revu et augmenté par l’auteur. Livraisons, 14-16. 8vo, pp. 513-552, 
with 4 maps. Paris: Klincksieck, £897. 
WE are glad to réceive this, the completion of a useful translation and 
edition of Drude’s work on plant geography. The previous parts 
have been noticed as they appeared; the last consists chiefly of an 
exhaustive, and so far we have tested it, accurate index, a list of 
additions and corrections, and four folding maps. The price of the 
book as a whole is 18 francs. While commending the work, we must 
eall attention to a serious omission, from a bibliographical point of 
view. The title page, just issued, bears date 1897 ; but the first part 
appeared in June 1893, and the remainder at various dates between 
1893 and 1897. As the covers of the individual parts all bear the 
same date, viz., 1893, and as there is no reference to successive dates 
in the text, its issue in parts will be lost sight of, and the whole will 
seem to have appeared in the present year. Thus another puzzle 
will be added to the future bibliographer’s list—a list already far too 
long. To lessen this evil as far as possible we append the dates of 
