Bihliographical Noticea. ir)5 



BIHLIOGRAl'lIICAL NOTICES. 



The Fauna of liritish India, includlnr/ Cei/lon and Burma. Pub- 

 lished under tlie authority of the Secretary of State for India in 

 Council. Edited by Lt.-Col. C. T. Bingham. — lihi/nchoia. 

 Vol. III. {//tteropferu — Jlomoptera^. By W. L. Distant. 

 London : Taylor & Erancis. Pp. xiv, 503 ; text-figs. 200. 



CoL. Bingham has prefixed a preface to this volume (the first 

 published under his editorship) expressing the general regret felt 

 at the death of Ur. Blanford, the originator of the scries of works 

 on the Eauna of British India, and noticing the arrangements mado 

 for future volumes, comprising works on Coleoptcra, I^pidoptera, 

 and Mollusca. 



The present volume contains the conclusion (families 17 to 24) of 

 the Heteroptcra, chiefly inchuiing the not very extensive but ex- 

 tremely interesting Water-Bugs, and the first two families of 

 llomoptera — the Cicadidix; (three su])farailies) and Eulgorida? (twelve 

 subfamilies). It will thus be seen that the largest, and in the case 

 of the Honioptera the handsomest and most conspicuous, species fall 

 into the present volume. These sections are, however, verj' poorly 

 rej)resented in Britain. Of the great and vociferous family Cicadidte 

 we have only a single rare and local representative, and even this ono 

 of the smaller species, measuring under 2 inches in expanse, though 

 from 3 to 6 or even 7 inches is no uncommon size in India and other 

 warm countries. Even so, however, our own species is the largest 

 British species of its order, except the curious aquatic llanatra 

 belonging to the Heteroptera. The Water-Bugs and Fu'goridae are 

 somewhat better represented in Britain, but the latter only by 

 comparatively small and insignificant species, whereas the Indian 

 Fulgoridae are as large and brightly coloured as butterflies and 

 tiger-moths, which, indeed, some of the species resemble, while 

 others are remarkable for the largo and often curiously shaped 

 protuberance on the head, which, however, finds its greatest deve- 

 lopment not in an Indian species, but in the large South-American 

 lantern-fly, which sometimes measures nearly 6 inches across the 

 wings. It is curious that both the South-American lantern-flies 

 and the East-Indian candle-flies should be reputed luminous, and 

 yet that modern entomologists should not have been able to confirm 

 the statement in either one case or the other. 



We hope that the high standard of excellence which the ' Fauna 

 of British India ' has exhibited since its commencement will be 

 maintained permanently by the combined eflforts of editors, authors, 

 and artists. 



A Synonymic Catalogue of Homopiera. — Part I. Cicadidce. By 

 W. L. Distant. Loudon : Printed by Order of the Trustees of 

 the British Museum, 1906. 8vo. Pp. 207. 



This is one of the familiar brown-covered Catalogues that have been 

 so useful to entomologists since the Trustees of the British Museum 

 decided to adopt that form, instead of the long series of publications 



