26 



NATURE 



[November ii, 1897 



Any one who is familiar with this class of literature will 

 probably infer that the following sentences were also 

 " made in Germany." 



" Trimen also observed that an Acacia tree with exuding 

 sap, the sporting ground of the sucking insects, was also 

 visited by predatory Mantids, which found here numerous 

 victims " (p. 40). 



" I regard these females therefore, not as does Butler, 

 as mimics of the Euplosce, but as normally coloured, for 

 they resemble closely other Satyrida " (p. 32). 



" As much as the coloration of the wings varies within 

 narrow limits in different species of this genus, it is, 

 however, in general similar" (p. 26). 



" In the Neotropic genus Phoraspis, Serv., the forms 

 with a light longitudinal fillet on the indistinctly ribbed 

 elytra and with pronotum cleared to a glassy appearance 

 on the sides, between which the head appears, resemble 

 somewhat the ' Lampyridas'" (p. 7). 



Seitz is made to say that a nauseous odour is emitted 

 by a certain butterfly {Eueidei) "only when danger 

 threatens or on direct insult." He is thus made to 

 describe the evidence on which this conclusion was 

 based : " I approached two of these insects during copula- 

 tion and smelled of them, but could perceive nothing." 

 Such conduct is evidently regarded as not sufficiently 

 insulting to produce the desired effect (pp. 56, 57). 



Schilde is represented as saying 



" that the (mimetic) Pieris ' would become extinct if it 

 were not otherwise compensatingly protected in its own 

 garb, long before the first traces of the aping of the gaily- 

 colored species had been teleologically selected on its 

 white wings'" (p. 124). 



The mimetic female Pierifta, we are told on p. 66, 



" flutter in low flight and little exposed through the 

 thickets visiting at most the edge of the forest, where 

 their models suck the juices of flowers." 



Haase argues that in certain butterflies transparency is 

 even more effectual for protection than a conspicuous 

 " warning " appearance ; the metaphor in which he ex- 

 presses this opinion is thus rendered on p. 98 : 



" We must conclude that for protection against the 

 obstinate enemies a ' tarn cap ' is more advantageous 

 than a ' gorgon's head.' " 



We have now to inquire whether the translator pos- 

 sessed the requisite knowledge of the details of the sub- 

 ject-matter. The following examples will show that he 

 must have been absolutely ignorant of it ; and the blunders 

 due to this cause are far more injurious than the others 

 already treated of, and detract in a still more serious 

 manner from the scientific value of the work. The 

 want of technical knowledge causes many words and 

 sentences to be rendered in a manner entirely at variance 

 with their true meaning. 



Thus the hooked hairs of certain crabs are spoken of 

 as "angling hairs" (p. 151). The Attidcc are said to 

 " suffer greatly from the persecutions of their spider- 

 enemies " (p. 5): the author evidently stated that they 

 suffered from the attacks of the "enemies of spiders." 

 The " lepidopterologist " (p. 123) may well fail to recog- 

 nise the familiar cyanide bottle under the description of 

 "potassium glass" (p. 47). 



Even the familiar words " Lepidoptera," "butterfly," 

 " moth," are sometimes used in an entirely wrong sense. 

 NO. 1463. VOL. 57] 



Thus on p. 138 we are told that " Mimicry of members 

 of other genera of the same subfamily occurs not only in 

 the Lepidoptera, but also among Danamce" and several 

 other well-known Lepidopterous sub-families. Speaking 

 on p. 2,7 of a moth {Chalcosia), the author is made to say 

 that " the pinned insect was more tenacious of life than 

 any other butterfly with which I am acquainted." On 

 p. 146 the common hawk-moth Smerinthus ocellatus is 

 spoken of as a butterfly. The " empty pupal case of a 

 butterfly," alluded to on pp. 147 and 154, should certainly 

 be the "empty cocoon of a moth." Again, the word for 

 butterfly is sometimes (p. 38) rendered by Papilionidce. 

 By a similar blunder, on p. 41, the genus Papilio is 

 itself excluded from the Papilionidce. 



Instead of rendering the German descriptive terms by 

 the corresponding English ones, the translator merely 

 attempts a literal translation of the former. The absurd 

 results of this procedure are so thickly spread over the 

 book, that they form one of its worst features. Thus we 

 are constantly told of " shaded," " secondarily shaded," 

 and " cleared " wings, of " fillets " {e.g. " four orange 

 fillet remnants," p. 7, " cellular fillets," p. 29), and of 

 "limbal" markings. We read of the "yellow flanks" 

 of a female Papilio (p. 93), and of "smeary" larva? 

 (p. 65). A "New Hollandish" genus (p. 133), the 

 "lemon butterfly" (p. 148), and the "stem" of the 

 aculeate abdomen (p. 134), are doubtless intelligible to 

 an entomologist, although hot the terms we should 

 employ in this country. 



I should wish, in conclusion, to express regret that 

 Haase's painstaking and, in many respects, useful work 

 — marred as it is by excessive arrogance, by its imperfect 

 acquaintance with the literature of the subject, by its 

 numerous errors, and by the rashness and frequent 

 absurdity of its confident conclusions — should have been 

 introduced to the English-speaking public in a form 

 which is completely destructive of such merits as it may 

 be fairly claimed to possess. E. B. P. 



THE ACTION OF MEDICINES. 

 Lectures on the Action of Medicines : being the Course 

 of Lectures on Pharmacology and Therapeutics de- 

 livered at St. Bartholomew's Hospital during the 

 Summer Session of 1896. By T. Lauder Brunton, 

 M.D., D.Sc, LL.D., F.R.S., F.R.C.P., &c. 8vo. Pp. 

 XV + 673. (London : Macmillan and Co., Ltd. New 

 York : The Macmillan Company, 1897.) 



DR. BRUNTON, in his preface to this substantial 

 volume, writes as follows : 



" I acknowledge at once that the lectures are imperfect. 

 They are redundant in some parts and scanty in others ; 

 they are not well adapted for the purpose of cramming, 

 and any man who tries to pass an examination upon them 

 alone will not be at all likely to get the maximum number 

 of marks. But I do not think that lectures are intended 

 for the purpose of cramming. Their use is not to supply 

 the student with all the information he needs, but to 

 awaken his attention, to excite his interest, to impress 

 upon him certain points which will form a nucleus for 

 his knowledge, and around which he may afterwards 

 group more information." 



Wise and experienced teachers will regard as a 

 merit, what the author thus modestly admits as an 



