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The most lecent book, now in course of publication, is 

 J. W. Tutt's " XofinaJ Htsfiu]/ of Brlfisfi Lepidopfera ," which. 

 he commenced in 1899. It is a veritable encyclopaedia of 

 Lepidopterology, and contains a collection of nearly everything 

 that has been written about the various species. It also 

 includes the original descriptions of the authors of the species, 

 with descriptions of all the known named varieties, besides 

 descriptions of new forms. Up to the present time this 

 indefatigable writer has produced seven volumes, containing 

 nearly 500 pages apiece, but he has only treated of a 

 comparatively few species in each volume. The latest issue, 

 published last year, dealing with seven species, will give some 

 idea of the extent of the work. Presuining, at a moderate 

 computation, that there are 3,000 species, we can reasonably 

 hope to see the work, at the present rate of publication, 

 completed in about 400 years ! 



Such is a brief outline of some of the more prominent 

 works dealing with Lepidoptera. In addition to these, all 

 the other orders of Entomology have had their votaries. It 

 is difficult to find any branch of natural history that has 

 had more attention paid to it than the numerous family 

 of insects; their easy mode of collecting, the simplicity of 

 setting and preserving, and the great diversity of form and 

 colour has no doubt drawn into the field many students. 

 And we may reasonably ask after all this work : — What do 

 we know ? It is a question that is easily answered by two 

 small words — Very little. Each year some new point is added 

 to our existing store of knowledge : but the great bulk of the 

 work has still to be done. Who can truthfully assert that an 

 insect can hear ? That it possesses senses of a highly organised 

 nature is evident, but what they are is yet uncertain ; and 

 when we look back to our old authors, with their primitive 

 instruments, we are amazed at their having been able to 

 accomplish so much. Our modern improvements in lenses, the 

 greater accuracy of mechanical movements, and the wonderful 

 contrivances for manipulation, point to a time when greater 

 discoveries shall yet be made: but do we find this to be so? I 

 fear not. If our present-day naturalists were weighed in the 



