74 Bihliographical Notices. 



BlBLIOGlLVriliCAL ^'UTICES. 



Catalor/ue of the Lepidoptera PhaJ(V)icv in the British Museum. 

 Volume 111. Catalogue of the Arctiiifliu (Arctijiiue) and Agaris- 

 ticla3 in the Colhction of the British Museum. Ey Sir (Jeohok F. 

 Hampson, Bart. London : printed by order of the Trustees. 

 Pp. xix, G90. Plates xsxvi.-liv. 



The two previous volumes of this large work weic pul)li.slK'd in 

 1898 and 1900 respectively, and we congratulate the author and 

 the authorities of the British Museum on the rapid progress which 

 they have been able to make, though it is not possible that the book 

 can be completed on the same scale under forty or tit'ty volumes at 

 least. As Prof. E. Bay Lankester remarks in his Preface, " The 

 subject of the 3rd volume of Leinduptera Phahcno' is the last of the 

 three subfamilies o£ the Arctiadce — the Arctiame, in which 940 species 

 are described and classified ; the Volume also contains the small 

 family A/juristidiP, with 22.5 species, a somewhat specialized develop- 

 ment from the Noctuidcf, the antenna? being modified in relation to 

 their day-flying habits." 



These families of Lei)idoptera, though not including any very 

 large species, contain many of the most beautiful moths in the world ; 

 and in addition to the crowded figures on the coloured plates, drawn 

 by Mr. Horace Knight, the volume before us is further illustrated 

 by 2'.i-l- illustrations in the text, exhibiting the markings, venation, 

 head, and antennae of each species thus figured, aud sometimes the 

 legs also. 



The third volume is similar in style and execution to its pre- 

 decessors, which we have already reviewed at length at the time of 

 their appearance. An attempt is made to illustrate the mutual re- 

 lationships of the genera by tablesexhibiting the supposed phylogeny, 

 and keys to the genera are given, based chieflyybut not exclusively, 

 on neuration ; tables of species are also given under each genus, 

 chiefly arranged according to colours and markings. We note that 

 the author does not recognize generic names unaccompanied by a 

 figure, not even when they are aj)plied to species which are figured, 

 and therefore unmistakable. Ve are glad to see occasional and 

 tolerably full desciiptions of larv;e. Ve regret, however, that 

 more information is not afforded as to whether names sunk as 

 synonvms are absolute synonyms, or whether they represent sections 

 of genera or varieties of species resjwctively. An innovation which 

 we have not seen before is the rejection of the letter " k" in the 

 Latinized names employed, even in the case of those derived from 

 proper names — Xunthosjiilojderi/x Kirbi/i being written X. Cirbyi. 

 But granting that "k" is not a Latin letter, it is usual in most 

 languages to use a foreign letter for foreign names, even if it does 

 not belong to the alphabet ; aud we doubt if any French entomologist 

 of the present day would write " Ueawcr " for " Weaver," as was 

 actually done by Guenee. 



But however much we may find to criticize in the book before us 

 in matters in which there is room for difference of opinion, and 



