Bibliograjjhical Notices. 1 'l 7 



is divided into five chajitcrs, of wliich the first two deiil with 

 nictamorphosis in Lejtidopterii, mid the others with the external 

 niorpholoffv, internal Htructure, and jjliyln-^eny ot the Lepidopterous 

 pupa. The second part includes the I'sycliides (divided into 

 Microjisychinu and Macropsyehina), a cataloj^ue of the I'aluearctic 

 Psyehides, the first portion of the Lachneides, and Index. Tin- 

 author has not only epitomized a largo part of the extensive 

 literature relating to the various subjects of which he treats, hut 

 has added a very large amount of entirely new and original matter, 

 derived from the observations of himself and his correspondents. 



No less than 'S,*>A i)ages of the second volume are devoted to the 

 interesting, but extremely diflicult, grou}) of the Psyehides, which is 

 one of the most remarkable among the Lepidoptera. The females 

 are almost always a]»terous, and in some species are almost destitute 

 of legs and anteniue as well, being thus reduced to the condition of 

 mere helpless egg-bags. The larva; form cases for themselves on 

 the ])lants on which they feed, somewhat reseml)ling those formed 

 by the larvas of caddis-fiies ( rruV/o^j/cra), to which some entomo- 

 logists have considered the Psychida; to be allied. Hero the pujja 

 is formed, and the more helpless females never quit it, but deposit 

 their eggs withiu it. Another peculiarity is that parthenogenesis 

 is so common in some of the species, especially in the genus Solenobia, 

 that you may go on breeding from the larva-like female for genera- 

 tion after generation without ever seeing a male, which greatly 

 adds to the difficulty of satisfactorily separating and defining the 

 species. 



Mr. Tutt has thoroughly reviewed this difficult group. His 

 Catalogue of the Pala^arctic Psyehides includes no less th.m 1 1 

 families, 20 subfamilies, 'dd genera (of which b are new), and \A'6 

 species, besides varieties, &c. Among the Psychidte, Mr. Tutt places 

 several genera which many jircvious authors have included in the 

 Tineides.such as Dij)lodun>a, Ly/iusa, Mcl(tsi)ia,S<ile)iol>ia, Talaporia, 

 &c. But if we exclude these, we find that the Psyehides pioper. 

 which a few years ago used to form a single family, of three genera 

 at most, and which were often included in one, has now expanded 

 to four families, comj)rising twelve sections, and twenty-seven 

 genera ! This will appear to old-fashioned entomologists a terrible 

 and unnecessary amount of subdivision, but in most similar cases 

 the foresight of the innovator is, sooner or later, largely justified 

 by the judgment of his j^uccessors. 



The natural history of each species is also worked out as 

 exhaustively as before ; thus the account of Paihi/thelia viUosclla, 

 Ochs., occupies more than eighteen closely printed pages. 



The reprint ol' the oiiginal description of each gejuis and species, 

 whether short or long, is a great assistance, esjtecially as the original 

 types of the genera are clearly indicated. Had this alwa\s been 

 done, we should have been spared a tremendous amount of con- 

 fusion, though few cases are quite so glaring as that of the gonus 



