1 66 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [i, 4, July 1905 



How to Keep Bees. By Anna Botsford Comstock. New York, 

 Doubleday, Page. 1905. Pp. 228, 32 pages photographic 

 ihustrations. $1.00 



There are numerous guides to bee-culture but most of them 

 are adapted to the reader who has already learned something about 

 bees in the school of experience. For the beginner who wishes 

 to learn the essential details from reading, this is certainly the book 

 to be obtained first. " It is not intended to be a complete treat- 

 ise for the professional apiarist, but rather a handbook for those 

 who would keep bees for happiness and honey, and incidentally 

 for money. It is hoped, too, that it will serve as an introduction 

 to the more extended manuals already in the field." Especially 

 commendable is the fact that this volume is based on practical ex- 

 perience gained in a small apiary, and the disputed points concern- 

 ing bee life and the technique of manipulations which burden 

 larger manuals are here avoided. 



Chapter I, '' Why keep bees," urges honey, perhaps money, 

 recreation, love of nature-study, and the need of bees in " a per- 

 fect garden," as good reasons for keeping these domesticated in- 

 sects. The second chapter tells us " how to begin " in a small 

 way ; and having begun we may get all necessary detailed direc- 

 tions for management from later chapters, arranged in order of 

 demand for information. It appeals to the reviewer as just what 

 the beginner wants to know. 



This brief review would be incomplete without referring to the 

 literary qualities of the book. It is all interesting, and the plain 

 facts are far from prosaic technical directions. As examples we 

 quote : " A bee-veil facilitates work and encourages a serene 

 spirit," '* bee-gloves keep the disturbed little citizens from crawl- 

 ing up our sleeves, thus saving both them and ourselves from a 

 most embarassing situation," and " a little smoke is as efiicacious 

 in preserving pleasant relations with the bees, as was the smoke 

 from the pipe of peace in preserving similar relations between 

 our forefathers and the savages." 



Moths and Butterflies. By Mary C. Dickerson. Boston, Ginn. 



1905. Pp. 344, 200 photographs. $1.50. 



The publishers' announcement that this book was in preparation 



raised the question, " Why should there be printed another book 



on Lepidoptera in addition to the thousand and one already in the 



