73 
while, for example, we find the Lepidoptera and Hymenoptera of New 
Guinea and other Papuan Islands belonging, like the birds, to the 
Australian Region, the Coleoptera of the two have scarcely a genus in 
common that is not also almost cosmopolitan. 
The first part of Mr. Andrew Murray’s long-expected Monograph of 
the Nitidulide* appeared last autumn, in the ‘Transactions of the 
Linnean Society’ (vol. xxiv. pp. 211—414). We all know Mr. Murray 
to be a most indefatigable and pains-taking naturalist, and this work 
more than bears out his reputation: the Introduction is admirable, and 
we would especially call attention to his notice of the “ Habits and 
Geographical Distribution” of the family, as an excellent example of 
Science popularly treated. This part only treats of the two subfamilies 
Brachypterine and Carpophiline, and it is accompanied by five 
coloured quarto plates, representing about fifty species, with an 
immense number of details: these are by Mr. Robinson, and, so far 
_as I am able to form an opinion, they are exceedingly characteristic. 
The Trustees of the British Museum have issued Mr. Wollaston’s 
‘Catalogue of the Coleopterous Insects of the Canaries,’ a goodly 
volume of more than 600 pages. The aumber of species ascertained 
to belong to that group of islands amounts to_930.t Previously only 
179 were known. The same scrupulous care and minute accuracy 
characterize this as well a8 his previous works. So far as Entomology 
is concerned, Mr. Wollaston may claim to have made the Atlantic 
Islands his. own. 
The second and concluding part of Mr. Blackwall’s ‘ History of the 
Spiders of Great Britain and Ireland, recently published by the Ray 
Society, has well supported the prestige acquired by its predecessor. 
There are 304 species described, and most of these are figured on 
twenty-nine magnificent quarto plates, accompanied by numerous 
details. The services of Mr. Tuffen West, who, with all his well- 
known ability, executed the plates in the first part, being, un- 
fortunately, no longer available, the series in the second have been 
supplied by Mr. Hollick with a skill which is scarcely or not at all 
inferior. Mr. Blackwall has devoted a long life to the study of the 
* Mr. Murray calls the family “ Nitidularie,” and, in opposition to the almost 
universal custom, he designates the subordinate “tribes” by names, with one exception, 
ending in “ide.” The * Nitidulide,” therefore, for Mr. Murray, are not co-ordinate 
with the Nitidulide as you understand them, but only with one of its five sub- 
families. 
+ This number has already been very considerably augmented by Mr. Crotch and 
his brother, upwards of 100 species, having, I believe, to be added to the list. 
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