482 Bibliographical Notices. 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 



An EJementnnj Manual of Neiv-Zealand Eiilomolorpj. Bv G. V, 

 HuDsoy, F.E.S. With 21 coloured plates. J^vo, 12S pp. 

 London : West, Xe^man, and Co. 



This little book bears a somevrhat misleading title. The text 

 consists mainly of a series of short descriptions of the habits and 

 metamorphoses of various Xew-Zealand insects. This branch of 

 the subject, dealing with the life-histories of insects, is well 

 treated, and the descriptions, being based to a great extent upon 

 the author's own observations, are likely to prove a useful addition 

 to entomological literature. In a Manual of Entomology, however, 

 we look for a better treatment of the anatomy and classification of 

 insects than is to bo found in the half-dozen pages allotted to them 

 in the present volume. A few such statements as that " the 

 functions of the antennoe are, at present, extremely doubtful," and 

 the reference to the Malpighian tubes as " biliary vessels," suffi- 

 ciently prove that, on the physiological side of his subject, the 

 author might with advantage have consulted some good modern 

 text-book of biology or entomology. 



The amateur would not miss much, in fact, by passing over the 

 first chapter, which is somewhat curiously headed " General Obser- 

 vations." In the second chapter " on collecting" he will find some 

 useful hints. The remaining chapters, which, with the plates, 

 form almost the entire bulk of the volume, contain the descriptions 



certain respects in close connexion with the statements of K. C. Schneider 

 (" Ein Beitrag zur Pliylogenie der Oiganismen," Biol. Centralbl. xi. Bd., 

 pp. 739-744, I)cc. 31, 1891). I expressed those views many years ago in 

 various papers (among others " Die lebende Materie und die ludvidual- 

 itJit " (in Hungarian), Budapest! Szenile, 1884), and in a series of lectures 

 as Privatdozent at the University of Budapest (1888), as also recently ia 

 my capacity as a professor at Kolozsvar. A portion of these latter lectures 

 appeared last year in a series of articles iu the ' Sitzuugsberichton der 

 matliem.-naturw.,8ektiondesSiebenbiirgischen Musoumvereius," under the 

 title of " Die einzelligen Lebewesen von dem Gesichtspuukto der Viel- 

 zelligen." A summary of my results iu German will be published iu the 

 next part of the above-mentioned * Sitzungsborichte.' Shortly stated, my 

 theory regards the (non-organized) Protoblasts ( = ''Zoeu" of K. (5. 

 Schneider) as units of the third stage (third power) of matter in general 

 (the first power are the atoms in the elements, the second power the 

 molecules m the chemical compounds), and naturally, tis living units of 

 the first stage. The foregoing paper, which reproduces some of the results 

 alluded to, was written immediately after the appearance of Fronzol's 

 article in this Magazine, and only extraneous circumstances prevented me 

 from sending it to the press sooner. 



