72 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 
has issued on that most fascinating order of insects the Lepi- 
doptera, and is the “ first instalment of the entomological remains 
of the late William Buckler.” The late Mr. Buckler was well 
known to all students of the British Lepidoptera as a most pains- 
taking and correct delineator of the larve of that order of insects, 
and it was with great satisfaction they hailed the announcement 
that the Ray Society had purchased his drawings, and that the 
labour of ‘ half a lifetime” would not be lost. 
The letterpress extends to about two hundred pages, and is 
the joint production of the late Mr. Buckler and the Rev. John 
Hellins, the latter of whom, from the year 1858 to June, 1884, 
had been in constant correspondence with the former. The 
whole has been most ably edited by Mr. H. T. Stainton, F.R.S. 
The descriptions of the larve, and the accounts of the 
difficulties met with in rearing them, have that charm of truth- 
fulness which render them so welcome to the student of 
Nature. 
The plates, seventeen in number, contain each from sixteen 
to eighteen figures. Mr. Buckler appears to have excelled much 
more in drawing the larve than the pupe; the latter are in 
most instances little more than outlines; the drawing of the 
pupa of Apatura iris, Plate VII., is very inferior to that of the 
larvee of the same plate. 
Amongst some of the best may be pointed out Aporia 
crategi, Plate II.; Vanessa antiopa, Plate VIII.; and Grapta 
c-album, Plate IX. In these cases the figures are excellent. 
The representations of four larvee of Pyrameis cardui, Plate VILI., 
no doubt faithfully rendered, show how large is the range of 
variation in the larve of that species. 
The plates are by no means of equal merit, and there are 
evidences that the earlier drawings of Mr. Buckler were much 
surpassed by his later productions. . 
The execution of the plates by Messrs. West, Newman & 
Co. leaves nothing to be desired. 
It may be well to point out that the Ray Society has 
incurred heavy expenses in the purchase of the drawings, and 
in the getting up of the work, and that the issue of the sub- 
sequent volumes necessary to complete it in a comparatively 
short time, and the size of each volume, will depend upon the 
support received, by an increase in the number of subscribers. 
