r>i.l4 BihUographical Notices. 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 

 'The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Published 

 under the authoritj- of the Secretary of State for India in Council. 

 Edited by W. T. BL\yvoRV.—Bu'tt(rj!its. Vol. I. By Lieut.- 

 Colonel C. T. Bixoiiam. London : Taylor & Francis, 1905. 

 Pp. xxii, 511 ; pis. 10. 



Entomology has been given a considerable share in this valuable 

 series of works, and we are glad to see the first of tliree volumes on 

 the important and interesting group of Butterflies added. There are 

 some large unfinished works on the subject already; but a compact 

 and complete manual, condensing the vast scattered literature, has 

 long Iteen felt as an ever-increasing want, both by collectors at home 

 and residents in India. There is here every facility given for the 

 determination of specimens, by excellent i)lain and coloured half- 

 figures, good descriptions, and carefully Avorked-out keys of families, 

 subfamilies, and genera. Brief descriptions of the earlier stages are 

 also added, when known. 



The Indian Fauna is specially interesting in itself: in the south 

 we find occasional affinities with Africa ; and along its northern and 

 western frontier it shades gradually into the AVestern Paloearct.ic 

 Kfgion, the species of Western India having !^^editerranean affinities, 

 and those of the high mountains exhibiting Alpine, and occasionally 

 even Subarctic, affinities. On the other hand, there is comparatively 

 little resemblance between Indian and Tropical-American forms. 



Col. Bingham has adopted six families of butterflies : Xymplialidae, 

 Nemeobidae, Papilioui^^'r;, Pieridie, Lyca?nidie, and Hesperiidse. The 

 butterflies b'^Viic jj-e b"' '■'^^ ^^^^' ^^^ families are here described, and 

 the Xyry,\yjJ[, .^g -ided into six subfamilies, Z>rtnrt?nfp, Sfl/^z-i/if?, 



Acneince, Liibi/t./.^^iicp, Morphimr, and Nymphalincp. Of these, the 

 Acrceintp are j)oorly represented by two species only — one belonging 

 to a genus peculiar to India, and the other representing a very 

 extensive and characteristic group of African species. The Morphince 

 include a number of magnificent species, rivalling those of Tropical 

 Amcrifa, the subfamily being elsewhere represented only in that 

 region. The Kcmeobidoe also are poorly represented in the Indian 

 Fauna by twenty species belonging to five genera against hundreds 

 in the American Fauna — our only European representative of the 

 family being the well-known Nemeohius lucina, tiie only member of 

 its genus, which is also confined to Europe. The Danaina are a 

 characteristic Indian and African group, poorly represented in 

 America. One species, Danais chrysipp7(s, common thr. \ighout 

 India and Africa, occurs in Greece. The Libylhcincp form a small 

 family, represented in most parts of the woild, but generally by only 

 one or two species in each country; five, including the South-European 

 Lihythea oltis, arc included by Col. Bingham in the Indian Fauna. 

 Of the more familiar suhi'amWicfi Saiyrina' and Kymjihalinai, several 

 characteristic European genera are represented in India, and occa- 

 sionally we find the same or closely allied species, including, of 

 course, the cosmopolitan Vanessa cardu!. 



