Miscellaneous.. 407 



BllJLlOGKAPHlCAL NOTICE. 



UEvolution Se.vueUe dans I'Esjwce Jinmaine. Par lo Dr. Hknkj 

 SiCAKD, Doyen de la Faculte des Sciences de Lyon. Avcc 94: 

 figures intercalees dans le teste, Paris : Libraire F. U. Uailliere 

 et Fils, 1 S[)2. 



This little volume contains much inl'orraatiou relating to the deve- 

 lopment of animals and the peculiarities of their life-history in all 

 its main outlines, boginning with the asexual forms — partheno- 

 genesis establishing a " passage " to the sexual. Sexual evolution 

 in the Darwinian sense — that is, from the variability where the cause 

 is unknown, gradually developed by natural selection — finds little or 

 no place in it, notwithstanding its title. But we have numerous 

 facts respecting secondary characters, amounting in some species to 

 dimorphism. Sexual selection, it is contended, tends to develop 

 such characters, for, as the greatest dissimilarity favours progress, 

 whatever has the effect of diminishing it " is in opposition to the 

 teaching {donnees) of biology." " Many points remain obscure," 

 our author admits : for instance, among insects the occurrence of 

 apterous females ia species closely allied to others where the sexes 

 are scarcely distinguishable. 



Perhaps the most valuable part of the work is the account of the 

 development of the embryo, including a notice of the once hotly- 

 contested gastriBa-theory. " Ditferentiation of the sexes " and "of 

 secondary sexual characters in general" follow. The seventh 

 chapter applies to man only — his anatomy and " mental constitu- 

 tion." The concluding chapter treats of the various races of 

 mankind, illustrated by a number of characteristic portraits, and 

 giving many curious details : the love of ornamentation seems 

 predominant among the males of savages. 



Briefly, the work is a useful summary, a few still-disputed points 

 excepted, of the present condition of our knowledge. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



On the Genus Polychrysia of Huhner (a Group of Plusiid Jlotlis). 

 By Arthur G. Butler, F.L.S., F.Z.S., &c. 



In his * Verzeichniss bekannter Schmettlinge,' at p. 251, Hiibuer 

 founded a genus Polychrysia on the single European species P. 

 moneta. The characters given for his genus were, as usual, value- 

 less ; but Uie genus itself is a good one and must be adopted. It 

 is synonymous with the genus Deva of American authors and of 

 Walker's ' Supplement,' but has nothing to do with the typical 

 species of that author's genus. 



