286 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



(Staudinger and Wocke) have always given a subsidiary place in 

 their work to the species of Northern, Western, and Central 

 Asia, and Northern Africa ; while the whole fauna of the Circum- 

 polar Regions and of temperate North America is very similar to 

 that of Europe. Hence, although Dr. Lang has only given 

 figures and full descriptions of European species, he has added 

 incidental notices and frequently short descriptions of most of 

 the outlying species included by Staudinger, as well as of some of 

 the allied North American species. We believe that it is Dr. Lang's 

 intention, should circumstances permit, to prepare a companion 

 volume to the present, in which all the butterflies of the non- 

 European portion of the Palsearctic Fauna should be fully described 

 and illustrated. This would, from a scientific point of view, be an 

 even more valuable work than the present, for the descriptions 

 and figures of the greater part of these outlying species are 

 scattered through a large number of periodicals, many of which 

 are only accessible in the largest entomological libraries, and 

 even so, are by no means easy to compare. While the first work 

 will probably find its largest sale in England (although more 

 comprehensive than any good Continental book issued at anything 

 like a moderate price), the second would be indispensable to almost 

 every lepidopterist who collects European butterflies at all; for 

 nearly all lepidopterists who do not restrict their studies to the 

 species found in their own immediate neighbourhood, open their 

 collections to all species from the districts included in Staud- 

 inger's Catalogue. 



Staudinger's last Catalogue, of 1871, although published 

 thirteen years ago, and not based upon the latest and most 

 natural system of classification, according to our present ideas, 

 is yet the standard text-book of all collectors of European 

 Lepidoptera ; and we think that Dr. Lang has acted wisely in 

 adopting its classification, and taking it as his general standard 

 for the limits of species and varieties, although he has not 

 followed it servilely, and has endeavoured to avail himself, as far 

 as possible, of all accessible sources of further information up 

 to the present date. The bibliography which he has appended to 

 his work, though it might have been rendered more complete (for 

 we miss the names of some authors whom we think Dr. Lang 

 should have consulted, such as Berce and Speyer), will be found 

 very useful to those who wish to carry on the study systematically, 



