236 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



of the wings on one side ; both these were from Sutton. By Mr. 

 Valentine Smith, the following from Cannock Chase : — Pterostichiis 

 lepiclus, Cymindis vaporariorum, and Thymalus limbatus. — Colbran J. 

 Wain WEIGHT, Hon. Sec. 



RECENT LITERATURE. 



A Manual for the Study of Insects. By John Henry Comstock, Professor 

 of Entomology in Cornell University, and in Leland Stanford 

 Junior University ; and Anna Botsford Comstock, Member of 

 the Society of American Wood Engravers. 8vo. Ithaca, N. Y. 

 1895. Pp. xii, 701. Six plates (one coloured), and woodcuts. 



In the present handsomely got-up and extremely heavy volume (in 

 the literal sense), Prof, and Mrs. Comstock have published a very useful 

 work, profusely illustrated by the " Junior Author," on the insects of 

 the United States. It consists of a series of chapters ; one devoted to 

 Zoological Classification and Nomenclature ; another to Crustacea, 

 Arachnida, and Myriapoda, in which the largest amount of space is allotted 

 to the spiders, and the remainder to the seventeen orders into which 

 Prof. Comstock divides the insects proper, the old order Neuroptera 

 especially being broken up into no less than ten. Several of the other 

 orders are divided into "suborders"; thus the Anoplura are treated 

 as a degraded " suborder" of the Hemiptera, and placed between the 

 other two " suborders," the Heteroptera and Homoptera. The Rliyn- 

 chophora are also treated as a separate "suborder" from the remainder 

 of the Coleoptera ; and, what will seem stranger to many British entomo- 

 logists, the Lepidoptera are divided into two " suborders," the Jugatte 

 and Frenatse : the first containing only the Hepialidae and Microptery- 

 gidae (distinguished by having the fore and hind wings similarly veined, 

 and connected by a long lobe instead of a frenulum) ; and the Frenatfe, 

 including the remaining Lepidoptera, commencing with the Psychidfe, 

 Cossidfe, &c., and ending with the butterflies. All systematists know 

 the impossibility of attempting to sketch out a linear system which will 

 carry on one order, or even, in many cases, one family, to the next, 

 through the genera which are really the intermediate links ; but we do 

 not see that the existing arrangement is improved by ending the 

 Lepidoptera with the Nymphalidfe, and passing on to the Diptera as 

 the succeeding order. A great number of good illustrations are given 

 of typical North American insects of all orders : and the tables of 

 families and genera, though they cannot of course be expected to 

 apply throughout, except to American species, will be found of great 

 value to all entomologists. Notwithstanding certain defects and 

 deficiencies, to which we need not further allude here, we can cordially 

 recommend this book to any British entomologist, whether a beginner, 

 or a student who already possesses some knowledge of Entomology, who 

 wishes to extend his knowledge beyond the confines of our own islands. 



