APHIDES. DAT 
and gives us an elaborate ‘Monograph of the British Aphides.’ 
The talented author specially declares that it is neither 
exhaustive nor complete; but be that as it may, its publication, 
thanks to the Ray Society, gives the entomologists of this 
country such a basis on which to build, that we hope Aphis study 
will attract more workers than has hitherto been the case. 
The observant Shakspere tells us that it is the imagination 
of the poet which gives to airy nothing 
‘©A local habitation, and a name.” 
The omnipresent plant-lice have been treated in a similar 
way at the hands of various entomological writers; this also in a 
greatly aggravated form; for probably there is no group in the 
whole animal kingdom which has suffered more from the 
assignment of local habitations and names, with very little or no 
regard to specific differences, than the Aphidide. It became 
almost an axiom with naturalists that each species of plant had 
its own peculiar Aphis, hence names were inordinately multiplied 
and the various food-plants of particular species were utterly 
confused. While this state of things lasted, progress in life- 
history knowledge was impossible. This obstacle has now been 
removed, but not until one species of Aphis (Aphis rumicis, L. 
= fabe, Curt.) has become possessed of no less than thirty 
synonyms, and one name (quercus, persice, salicis, &c.) given by 
different authors represénts five or six distinct species. When 
we are assured by Walker that the often-destructive species, 
which appears in Mr. Buckton’s monograph under Schrank’s 
name of Rhopalosiphum dianthi feeds on at least sixty known 
plants, we can easily foresee the difficulties engendered by the 
application of the old monophagous principle. 
The very numerous and very beautiful and accurately-coloured 
plates which illustrate Mr. Buckton’s volumes will guard against 
this old-established error; the correct determination of a species 
with these at hand should not be difficult. The first volume 
contains forty-five plates, the second fifty, and another volume is 
promised to complete the work. Another great difficulty attending 
Aphis study has been the preservation of specimens, and here 
again the plates will be most useful. They serve for a typical 
collection in themselves, more especially when accompanied with 
microscopic preparations of the winged forms. An improved 
system of preservation has been lately introduced, similar to that 
