THE NEW WORK ON BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA. 85 



the active and beautiful winged creature, endowed with senses 

 beyond human ken, that fills the summer air with brilliancy of 

 colour and grace of movement. Mr. Tutt is doubtless fully 

 sensible of the importance and interest that belong to this pupal 

 stage, and one can only suppose that in the next volume he will 

 devote a chapter to it ; but the reader would have liked to have 

 been told so. 



There is the usual element of confusion arising out of the 

 frequent changes of names in recent years, but that is no fault of 

 the author, who only observes the " law of priority " which seems 

 to have been imposed on systematists, untempered by a "statute 

 of limitations" such as the common sense and experience of 

 mankind have imposed on laws of wider application. As one 

 who necessarily learned the entomological language of an earlier 

 epoch, it is quite a pleasure to the writer to meet with an old 

 friend respectable enough to have only one alias, Anthrocera 

 filipendulce, and this species is treated in a most exhaustive way, 

 twenty-six closely printed pages being devoted to it and its various 

 stages, variations, and habits, &c. The other species, about one 

 hundred in number, described in the volume are treated with 

 similar copiousness. 



I do not find that in all cases the author gives the wing 

 expansion, and venture to think that this is a particular which 

 should always be stated. Surely size is a material element in 

 description ? 



What has been stated of the treatment of A . filipendulce will 

 serve to show the completeness with which the subjects are 

 worked out. The author probably had his reasons, but one is 

 inclined to doubt whether there is not too much particularity 

 and minuteness ; not that abundance of material is ever to be 

 regretted by those who wish to know, but that it is natural to 

 desire that the work be completed, and to doubt whether it would 

 be practicable to carry the rest of the work through on the same 

 scale. The price is moderate for the amount of matter, and no 

 doubt the separate volumes will be complete and valuable in 

 themselves ; but the finished work on this scale would be of such 

 a voluminous character that one fears it would be beyond the 

 reach of many in whose hands one would like to see it. How- 

 ever, if the experience gained with this volume shows that con- 

 densation is desirable, it can be practised in the volumes that 

 will succeed. And there are so many public libraries, institu- 

 tions, &c, in England, in America, on the European continent, 

 and even elsewhere, to which the possession of this work will be 

 absolutely indispensable, that it may be hoped that the demand 

 will justify the great expenditure of labour and time that has 

 been made upon it. It should be in every reference library in 

 the provinces professing to be of a comprehensive character. 



