Jaiiu:iry 1S94. 



psrcHE. 



15 



Edwards's Bltterflies of North 

 America. — It we do not become tolerably 

 familiar with the transformations and his- 

 tories of our Satvrids it will not be for lack 

 of any effort or skill on the part of Mr. 

 W. H. Edwards, for he again devotes an entire 

 part of his Butterflies of North America to 

 their elucidation. Four species of Chio- 

 nobas and one of Neominois, the latter 

 genus for the first time, are depicted in Part 

 xiv. The egg of C crambis is shoAvn and 

 all the stages of C. macoiniii, except the 

 chrysalis (never yet reared), besides numer- 

 ous details of their structure, with the preci- 

 sion and copiousness we are accustomed to 

 in Ibis work. Every stage of N. ridiiigsii 

 is shown, no less than twenty-seven figures 

 being devoted to them, besides separate 

 drawings for the early and late forms of 

 the butterfly. Besides all this two other 

 species or varieties of Chionobas (C oeno and 

 C afsiinilis, the latter regarded as a variety of 

 the former) are figured in their perfect stage. 



The text for all the species (excepting C. 

 cramhis) is unusually full and rich in 

 interest and contains extended quotations 

 from his correspondents who have seen the 

 insects in life; but of the greatest impor- 

 tance are all the details of breeding experi- 

 ments in this extremely difficult group of 

 Satyrids, whose behavior is so contrarv and 

 variable. 



As series III approaches completion, everv 

 naturalist must hope that some way mav be 

 fciuiid for the continuation of this incompar- 

 able work, as far into a fourth series as life 

 and health permit the indefatigable author. 

 He lias been able to carry on the present 

 series for six years or more only by consider- 

 able grants in aid from funds for the support 

 of scientific research. They should be forth- 

 coming as long as he can make such excellent 

 use of them. 



Entomological Notes. — The entomo- 

 logical collections of the late Francis 

 Polkinghorne Pascoe, who died last June in 

 his eightieth year, have been acquired b\ 



the trustees of the British museum. Mr. 

 Pascoe's monographs of the Australian and 

 Malayan Longicornia, describing the collec- 

 tions brought together by Dr. A. R. 

 Wallace are among the most important of 

 his writings. 



Though the Nocluidae of North America 

 have been frequently listed no comprehensive 

 catalogue has been issued since 1S74 '^^'hfn 

 Grote's "List of the Noctuidae of North 

 America" appeared in the Bulletin of the 

 Buftalo academy of natural sciences, v. 2, p. 

 1-77. Since 1874 very many new species 

 have been described and the literature has 

 increased enormously. Prof. John B. Smith's 

 "Catalogue of the lepidopterous superfamily 

 Noctuidae found in Boreal America," recently 

 issued as Bulletin No. 44 U. S. National 

 museum (424 pp.) will, therefore, be espe- 

 cially useful. In the preface Professor Smith 

 reviews at length the character and condition 

 of the principal collections, American and 

 European, containing typical noctuid mate- 

 rial ; to Professor Smith all the specimens 

 studied when the original description is 

 written are types and the plan of placing types 

 in several collections is commended. 



The catalogue enumerates nearly 1,700 spe- 

 cies, and is both synonymical and biblio- 

 graphical ; the habitat and present location of 

 the types ai-e noted; critical and descriptive 

 notes are frequent, an index to authors and 

 works cited is given together with a full index 

 to every name used in the body of the work. 



To the Bihang to the Swedish academy's 

 Handlingar for 1892, Schott contributes a 

 paper on Californian Collembola, with four 

 excellent plates; eighteen species of eleven 

 genera are recorded. 



Wickham describes and figures the early 

 stages of nine species of our Coleoptera in 

 the Iowa State university's bulletin. 



"The sclerites of the head of Danais 

 archippus" are discussed by V. L. Kellogg 

 in the Kansas university quarterly for Octo-' 

 ber last, in which the author dissents from 

 some of Burgess's \iews. 



