REVIEWS. 93 



any other than the present case it might have been a questionable 

 compliment to call a "pug" after a lady, but not in this, as all 

 must admit. — Chakles Clifford ; Corporation Street, Man- 

 chester, March 10, 1881. 



REVIEWS. 



Les parasites et les Maladies ixirasitaires. By P. Megnin. Paris : 

 G. Masson. 1880. 



This work treats of the j)arasitic diseases to which man and 

 the domestic or wild animals are liable, and of those insects which 

 produce them. The parasites of ourselves and our animals we 

 all know are very numerous and very diverse ; their attacks are 

 often serious, and certainly their presence is at all times unpleasant. 

 Though always specially noted by medical and veterinary prac- 

 titioners, even generally by casual observers, it is astonishing how 

 little is really known of them in this country. We welcomed the 

 late- Mr. Murray's ' Aptera ' (Entom. x. 102) as a useful resume, 

 and much wanted manual of our despised lice, ticks, and mites ; 

 M. Megnin's comprehensive volume we now heartily commend to 

 the notice of all students, whether medical, veterinary, agricultural, 

 or entomological. The present volume only treats of the parasitic 

 Articulata, but it appears that a further work, treating of those 

 lower in the scale and the cryptogams, is in preparation. M. 

 Megnin's first words define a parasite as a being living at the 

 expense of other living beings. This will show the wide ground 

 covered by this volume — the external and internal parasites of 

 animals. The numerous parasitic Diptera, and the Pulicidce, 

 still retained in Kirby's order Aphaniptera ; our well-known 

 hemipteron [Acanthia or Cimex) ; the numerous Pediculina and 

 Mallophaga ; a single new Collembola, belonging to the Podiiridce, 

 whicii our author tells us is a veritable stable -louse ; and that 

 abnormal coleopteron {Platypsylla castoris) — the Canadian beaver- 

 parasite (figured, Entom. vii. 294)— are all fully treated of in both 

 systematic and economic detail. Their history occupies 104 

 pages. The following 336 pages are devoted to the special 

 families of the Acaridce, amongst which M. Megnin has long been 

 known as one of the highest authorities. Particularly clear and 

 comparative descriptions of the closely -allied species are given, 



