56 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



knows where to find them, it is quite immaterial in which order 

 the families follow each other in the collection. 



Meyrick begins at the top and works downwards, Tutt begins 

 at the bottom and works upwards ; and, so far as meeting old 

 time prejudices goes, Meyrick is decidedly the wiser in his genera- 

 tion. Had he only twisted the stirps containing the butterflies 

 to the front, he might perhaps have entirely avoided the oppo- 

 sition a new arrangement meet} with. Tutt begins at the 

 bottom, and flaunts this difficulty in our faces ; perhaps he feels 

 that he will disarm the danger by boldly grasping his nettle. 



The phylogenetic tree given at p. 112 embodies so many 

 points that I have myself insisted upon, that it would be un- 

 grateful to criticise it. By adopting the form of an actual tree 

 with a thick stem, as all good trees ought to have, some diffi- 

 culties are avoided ; for instance, I might claim that it adopts 

 my view of the probably polyphyletic origin of the neo-Lepi- 

 doptera; it might equally be said that it does not. An un- 

 certainty of this sort, considering the paucity of conclusive 

 facts, is perhaps praiseworthy rather than otherwise. Euptero- 

 tidse and Psychidae are placed twice over tentatively. I should 

 certainly agree with that that assigns the Psychidse to the Tineid 

 branch. Though there are several positions about which I am 

 sceptical, such as that of the Drepanulidse and Pterophoridse, 

 there are none that appear to be impossible, that is, no position 

 given requires, as far as my knowledge goes, that any structure 

 should have evolved backwards, if an awkward phrase may be 

 used to express an awkward hypothesis. The process is one the 

 impossibility of which in nature is clearly brought home to us 

 by a familiar device of the cinematographist, when, by reversing 

 his apparatus, the scattered feathers, for example, after a pillow- 

 fight, co^ect themselves together and return into the pillow-case 

 from which they had issued. 



One may wish the work could have been less voluminous, but 

 there can be no doubt it marks an important step forward in the 

 treatment of the British Lepidoptera, recognising more fully 

 than any previous treatise that a complete study of all the 

 stages of the insects, not only structurally, but physiologically, 

 in their habits, changes, variations, distributions, &c, is now 

 essential to further progress. The groups selected for treatment 

 lend themselves especially to this demonstration. 



The work is produced in a very satisfactory form. I have no 

 doubt that its merits will secure it a reception that will induce 

 the author to proceed with the remaining volumes. 



T. A. C. 



