THE ENTOMOLOGIST 



Vol. XXXIL] PEBEUAEY, 1899. [No. 429. 



LEPIDOPTERA PHAL^NiE OF THE WHOLE WORLD.* 



We have here the first volume of a gigantic undertaking, 

 which will mark a new era in the study of the Heterocera or, as 

 we must now term them, the Lepidoptera Phalamre. Though it 

 professes to be a catalogue of specimens in the British Museum, 

 we learn in the introduction that descriptions of all species 

 hitherto described are included of which specimens are available 

 for study, or about which sufficiently reliable information is pub- 

 lished to enable them to be classified with approximate correctness, 

 and lists of species of which the descriptions are insufficient will 

 be given. No new species are described unless they are repre- 

 sented by specimens in the British Museum. In simple terms, 

 the work is to include all known moths, and will enable any 

 specimen to be at once named or shown to be a new species, a 

 matter at present impossible without access to the best libraries 

 and collections, and then only after a laborious search. 



When we find that the present volume of 580 pages treats of 

 only one family— viz., the Syntomidse — and contains descriptions 

 of 1184 species, some idea of the probable extent of the work may 

 be formed. 



The descriptions appear to be all drawn up by the author, 

 usually with the type specimen before him. Here and there only 

 are there any references to early stages, these appearing to be 

 quite unknown in most species. The known larvae of Dysauxes 

 punctata and ancilla are not however referred to. A large num- 

 ber of new genera and species are defined. There is also an atlas 



* ' Catalogue of the Lepidoptera Phalasnse in the British Museum ' : 

 Vol. I. — ' Catalogue of the Syntomidse in the Collection of the British 

 Museum.' By Sir George F. Hampson, Bart. London : Printed by order 

 of the Trustees. 1898. Pp. xxi, 559. Seventeen coloured plates. 



ENTOM. FEB. 1899. D 



