142 Bibliographical Notices. 



Catalojue of British Hymenoptera of the Family Chalcidida. By 

 Claude Morlet, F.Z.S., F.E.S. Printed by Order of the Trustees 

 of the British Museum. 8vo. Pp. 74. 



Hitherto the British Hymenoptera, except only the Aculeata, have 

 been greatly neglected, for though much work has been done of 

 late years in this direction, yet it has been chiefly due to the 

 labours of tbree entomologists — Marshall, Cameron, and Morley. 

 Yet the Order is by far the largest of the seven great Orders of 

 Insects, for the Coleoptera and Diptera are only estimated at 

 approximately 3000 British species each, the Lepidoptera at 

 2000, the Hemiptera at 900, the Neuroptera at 640, and the 

 Orthoptera at only 60 ; whereas the Hymenoptera, though our 

 estimate is based on very incomplete lists, number upwards of 

 4830 British species. 



A large proportion of these species are, however, of very small 

 dimensions, the Mymaridse, or Fairy Flies, belonging to the 

 Proctotrupidae, being the smallest insects known ; some of these at 

 least are parasitic on the eggs of other insects. 



Many of the Chalcididae, too, are very small, but they are the most 

 numerous of the main groups of the Hymenoptera, and Mr. Morley 

 enumerates 148 genera and 1424 species as occurring in Britain. 

 They are almost exclusively parasitic, and, like other parasitic 

 Hymenoptera, must do an immense work in the world by keeping 

 down the numbers of injurious insects. 



Mr. Morley's work does not profess to be a critical revision of 

 theso insects, but suoh a preliminary work was absolutely necessary 

 before anything could be done to facilitate the study of this 

 extensive and much neglected family. We regret, however, that a 

 short bibliography should not have been added, especially as the 

 descriptions of the principal English writer on the Family, Francis 

 Walker, are scattered broadcast over many periodicals and separate 

 publications : the ' Entomological Magazine,' ' Entomologist,' 'Trans- 

 actions of the Entomological Society,' 'Annals and Magazine 

 of Natural History,' « Monographia Chalciditum,' * List of Chal- 

 cididae in the British Museum,' ' Notes on Chalcidiae,' &c. This 

 is further complicated by the circumstance that the 'Monographia 

 Chalciditum' is not a separate work, but only a continuation, 

 comprising the genera not previously monographed in the ' Entomo- 

 logical Magazine.' The difficulty of obtaining these rare works and 

 periodicals out of London is likely long to prove a serious impedi- 

 ment to the effective study of this Family. 



Mr. Morley's work may be regarded as a continuation of the series 

 of Catalogues of British Insects published by the Entomological 

 Society of London some years ago, and is uniform with them. 



