August 19, 1897] 



NA TURE 



363 



a curious discussion as to whether liquids which are 

 miscible in all proportions are, or are not, mutually in- 

 finitely soluble. A clear definition of solubility, which is 

 nowhere to be found in the book, would have made this 

 impossible. 



A little more care bestowed on the literary workman- 

 ship of the book would have made it much more attrac- 

 tive, and saved the reader both time and trouble. For 

 example, he is left to guess what quantities are taken as 

 ordinates and abscissae of several of the curves ; fre- 

 quently, also, a curve is referred to without any indication 

 of the diagram on which it is to be found ; this is per- 

 plexing when, as on p. 49, the diagram is finally dis- 

 covered eleven pages further back. The English, too, 

 is not always above reproach. On p. 51 we read, for 

 example : " If instead of diminishing the pressure upon 

 a saturated solution reaching the divariant system, solid 

 solute and vapour, we increase it," &c. Abrupt, not to 

 say discourteous, criticism, such as the following (from 

 p. 158), is also to be deprecated in a serious scientific 

 work : — 



" Etard has stated that the line O F terminates at the 

 melting point of the more fusible salt. This is entirely 

 wrong. The curve O F terminates at the temperature of 

 the eutectic alloy formed from the two salts, a temperature 

 which is necessarily lower than the melting point of 

 potassium nitrate. Curiously enough, Etard has an ink- 

 ling of the truth in one case, but it is not sufficient to 

 make him modify his erroneous hypothesis." 



■ The writer would not have dwelt on these comparatively 

 trivial faults at such length were it not that the book 

 contains much that is valuable. The numerous refer- 

 ences to the newer work on the subject (and that is by 

 far the greater part of it) will be of great service to any 

 one desiring to make a more profound study of the 

 problems of heterogeneous equilibrium. T. E. 



EAST INDIAN BEES AND WASPS. 



The Fauna of British India., including Ceylon and 

 Burma. Edited by W. T. Blanford, F.R.S. (Published 

 under the authority of the Secretary of State for India 

 in Council.) 



Hymenoptera. Vol. i. Wasps and Bees. By Lieut.- 

 Colonel C. T. Bingham. 8vo. Pp. xxix -I- 579 ; 188 

 woodcuts, 4 coloured plates. (London : Taylor and 

 Francis, 1897.) 



TH E first of the volumes before us is one of a series that is 

 being produced under the authority of the Secretary 

 of State for India, in order to diffuse knowledge already 

 obtained and to facilitate the acquisition of further in- 

 formation. The book is the twelfth volume of the series, 

 which was commenced in 1888 by the issue of a volume 

 on the Mammals, written by Dr. W. T. Blanford, F.R.S. , 

 who is also the editor of the series. The entomology of 

 India has been hitherto too much neglected, and the 

 literature is very scattered and fragmentary ; indeed, 

 until quite recently it has not been possible to ascertain 

 even the names of the locusts that from time to time 

 devastate various parts of India. Our thanks are there- 

 fore due to those who are endeavouring to remedy this 

 tate of affairs. Four volumes on Lepidoptera have 

 NO. 1451, VOL. 56] 



already appeared in the series. Though butterflies and 

 moths are the special favourites of the Insect world with. 

 British entomologists, they are by no means the most 

 important insects either from a scientific or an economic 

 point of view, and the editor of the series has done welk 

 to break fresh ground with this volume on the bees and 

 wasps, even though it cannot be expected that the work 

 shall prove an exhaustive one. We are glad to find that 

 the venture is a successful one, especially as very serious 

 difficulties, arising from the incompleteness of collections 

 of these insects and their inadequate nomenclature, have 

 had to be encountered. 



Colonel Bingham, the author of the second volume 

 under notice, has an extensive acquaintance with the 

 insects he describes, gained during many years of work- 

 as Conservator of Forests in India. The volume does 

 not include the ants and the ruby-flies, but, with these 

 exceptions, comprises the most important of the Hymen- 

 optera, and includes just about 1000 species. It is 

 chiefly devoted to descriptions and to tables by which* 

 the names of the species may be ascertained. As this 

 work will necessarily be, for some time to come, the 

 standard one on the aculeate Hymenoptera of India,. 

 it was necessary that nomenclature and classification, 

 should be thoroughly dealt with. These points are satis- 

 factory, the descriptions being concise and clear, and! 

 the classification and nomenclature up to the level of the 

 best and latest work. Now that the naturalists of India 

 have this valuable volume to aid them m the preliminary 

 work of finding out the names of the stinging Hymen- 

 optera they meet with, we may hope that attention may 

 be given to their habits and instincts. The fossorial 

 Hymenoptera occupy considerably more than half the 

 present volume ; their habits are varied in details andi 

 of extreme interest, so that a large field is here opened; 

 to the observing naturalist. The fact that these insects 

 are many of them able to sting the victims they carry 

 off and store as food for their young, in a manner that 

 would be creditable even if they had a perfect knowledge 

 of anatomy, is now, thanks to the labours of Fabre and. 

 others, generally known. 



It is not, however, known to more than a few that in' 

 one group of Fossors— the Ampulicides — the members- 

 have the still more inexplicable power of merely taking 

 their prisoners captives, and making them march to the- 

 spot where they are to be immured and eaten. Colonel. 

 Bingham tells us that " these beautiful insects are pre- 

 datory on cockroaches. In Burma I have frequently 

 seen these wasps come into the house and search for 

 their prey under boxes and furniture. In the forest once 

 I watched a rather large specimen of A. compressa^ Fabr.,, 

 struggling with a huge cockroach ; the latter was either 

 paralysed by a sting, or dazed with fear, and was being 

 half dragged by an antenna and foreleg, half hustled 

 and pushed along by the active little wasp." 



Although the number of species in this volume (about 

 1000, as we have previously stated) may appear to those 

 unacquainted with entomology to be large, yet the 

 volume in this respect is probably far from complete. 

 Indeed, it is not improbable that the aculeate Hymen- 

 optera of India will be found to number 2000 species ;. 

 and now that this volume is available for the assistance 



