422 



NATURE 



[June 9, 1910 



forty figures, which clearly show the features upon 

 which the diagnosis depends. 



Hefte iii. and iv. form a single volume on the 

 Coleoptera. The introductory pages contain useful 

 figures, on which the structures used in diagnosis are 

 named. The order is divided into Adephaga (Carni- 

 vora) and Polyphaga ; then follow tables for the 

 separation of the families, genera, and species. Ti 

 true water beetles, that is, those species in which all 

 stages are passed in water, are first considered ; 

 afterwards, those species in which the young stages 

 are found in water, the adults being terrestrial ; and, 

 finally, those the whole life of which is passed under 

 stones or on plants on the margin of water. 



The single volume on the Trichoptera (Hefte v. 

 and vi.) opens with a detailed description of the 

 imago, following which are tables, supported by line 

 figures, chiefly of wings and genitalia, for the separa- 

 tion of families, genera, and species. Six pages are 

 devoted to the description of the &^^ masses of some 

 families, genera, and species, and there follows a 

 detailed description of the larva and tables for separat- 

 ing larvae into their respective families, genera, and 

 species. Lastly the pupa is described, and another 

 series of tables enables the worker to identify the 

 family or subfamily to which a pupa belongs, and 

 he may then complete the identification either by 

 reference to the genitalia of the imago (if they are 

 already formed beneath the pupal cuticle) or to the 

 larval cuticle. These excellent systematic accounts o. 

 the larvae and pupae, which occupy 112 pages, are 

 alone sulificient to secure for the volume a hearty 

 reception and commendation. 



The volumes on the other orders of insects (Hefte 

 vii., viii., and ix.) are on a plan similar to that of 

 the two volumes above noticed, as also are the 

 accounts of the Crustacea. For instance, the Phyllo- 

 poda (Heft x.) are divided into Exiphyllopoda and 

 Cladocera, each section being in turn subdivided into 

 families, genera, and species, separate tables being 

 given, where necessary, of the characters of male and 

 female specimens. Two hundred and sixtj'-five out- 

 line drawings of the carapace, terminal hooks, setae, 

 antennae, &c., make clear the references to these 

 characters in the text. 



The account of the Trematodes (Heft xvii.) is ad- 

 mirably arranged and complete. Tables giving the 

 characters of the adult, and in some cases also of 

 immature forms, are provided. There are lists of the 

 Trematodes which have been found encysted in those 

 birds. Amphibia, fishes, molluscs, and arthropods 

 which are associated with fresh water, and there is a 

 useful appendix on cercariae. The utility of the 

 volume would be increased if a '"host-index" were 

 added, by means of which the worker could ascertain 

 what parasites had been recorded from the particular 

 host which he happens, at the moment, to be 

 examining. 



The numerous figures, many of them original, 

 which illustrate these volumes are of exactly the 

 kind to elucidate the text ; only very rareh' is a defec- 

 tive figure met with; here and there a shaded draw- 

 ing has become rather too dark in the course of 

 reproduction, thus causing part of its detail to be 

 NO. 2 1 19, VOL. 8;] 



obscured. The generic and specific names adopted 

 are thoroughly up to date. Synonyms are given in 

 only a comparatively few cases, such as those in 

 which a well-known name has been recently super- 

 seded ; a few more cases would have been the better 

 for similar treatment; for instance, such well-known 

 names as Paludina and Cyclas might have been given 

 as synonyms under Viviparus and Sphaerium resp 

 tively. One regrets the disappearance of many well- 

 established names, e.g. Apus is replaced by Triops, 

 and the alteration of others, e.g. Daphnia to Daphne, 

 Anodonla to Anodontites, Artemia to Artemisia; these 

 changes in zoological nomenclature seem to be almost 

 endless, and sometimes, as in the last-named case, 

 to be of doubtful value. 



The volumes are of handy size, about 8 inches by 

 45 inches, suitable for the pocket; they are printed 

 on thin paper, so that the largest (on the Trichoptera, 

 326 pp. J is only half an inch in thickness. 



So considerable a proportion of the fresh-water 

 fauna of Britain is found also in Germany that the 

 student of the British fresh-water fauna may turn to 

 these volumes with the assurance that, in most cases, 

 he will find there the information he requires to 

 enable him to identify his material. These excellent 

 volumes are certain to prove of the greatest service 

 to workers on the fresh-water fauna, not only ol 

 Germany, but of a wider area. 



CRETAN ARCHEOLOGY. 

 Crete, the Forerunner of Greece. By C. H. Hawei 

 and Harriet Boyd Hawes. With a preface bj 

 Arthur J. Evans. Harper's Library of Livin 

 Thought. Pp. xiv + 158. (London: Harper Bros 

 1909.) Price 2s. 6d. net. 



MRS. HARRIET BOYD HAWES. better knowi 

 to us, perhaps, under her maiden name of Misj 

 Harriet Bovd, and her husband, Mr. C, H. Hawes 

 have written a very useful little book which may be 

 described as a short, popular description of the antiqui- 

 ties of Crete which have been discovered during the 

 last ten years by Dr. Evans, Prof. Halbherr, and by 

 the distinguished author herself. More popular 

 than Prof. Burrows's admirable '"Discoveries in 

 Crete " (though, at the same time, in no wa}- le<s 

 useful to archaeologists), and published at half the 

 price of even his book, ""Crete, the Forerunner of 

 Greece," should bring the interest and the importano 

 of the Cretan discoveries home to the minds of all 

 Mr. and Mrs. Hawes have rightly insisted on the fact 

 that the Cretan discoveries should in reality interest 

 us more than similar discoveries in Assyria, or Pales- 

 tine, or even in Egypt, because the Cretan civili^ 

 sation of the Bronze age was the forerunner ana 

 the ancestor of that Hellenic culture which is ours to- 

 day. In spite of the dark age of medisevalism in 

 Europe, the tradition of Graeco-Roman civilisation sury 

 vived, and we have now returned to it. Greek culture 

 was but a revival, after an analogous dark age oi 

 mediaevalism, of the great civilisation of the vEgear 

 Bronze age, younger sister, probably, of the ancieni 

 culture of the Nile valley. Our civilisation goes back 

 in Greece to the very beginning of things, almost t( 



