492 



NATURE 



[September 24, 1891 



the biting Culicidae. The breeding and artificial rearing 

 of dragon-flies present almost insuperable difficulties, 

 for, when the larval stage is attained, each individual 

 would have to be isolated, because they are apt to devour 

 each other when confined in a limited space. Irre- 

 spective of the question of breeding, an insect which 

 produces but one brood a year, and lives but a it.v^ days 

 in the imago condition, has little chance of seriously 

 affecting a race whose numerous annual generations 

 succumb only to the severest weather. In its natural 

 condition the dragon-fly does not correspond sufficiently 

 closely with the mosquito, either in time or space, to give 

 it any real chance of effecting the destruction of the 

 latter ; its breeding-places are also more restricted, as 

 it requires a volume of water which is constant for 

 some little time, whereas the mosquito, with its quicker 

 metamorphosis, can make use of any temporary puddle. 



The conclusion to be drawn from all three essays is, 

 that if a serious attempt is to be made to combat these 

 most annoying insects, the means to be adopted with 

 most chance of success lie rather in the direction of 

 draining swamps, raising fish, and encouraging water- 

 fowl in the infested ponds, and, where it would not be 

 injurious, using crude oil, than in any effijrts to increase 

 the supply of dragon-flies. 



Mrs. Aaron and Mr. BeutenmuUer have appended to 

 their essays useful lists of papers on the subject of their 

 work ; and the latter has added a preliminary list of the 

 Odonata in the State of New York, and a very useful 

 catalogue of the "described transformations of the 

 Odonata of the world." The book is illustrated with 

 several plates, which depict stages in the life-history of 

 the insects in question, and various mechanical devices 

 for attracting mosquitoes, by means of lamps, to an oily 

 grave ; and for spraying with petroleum the water in which 

 they breed. A. E. S. 



OUR BOOK SHELF 



Materials for a Flora of the Malayan Peninsitla. No. 3. 

 By George King, M.D., F.R.S., &c. Reprinted from 

 the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. LX. 

 Part 2. 



Dr. King's third contribution towards a flora of the 

 Malayan Peninsula contains the Malvales, and comprises 

 almost as large a proportion of new species as the two 

 preceding parts, but no new genus. The Malvace^ 

 number twenty-four species belonging to eleven genera ; 

 the Sterculiaceae, forty eight species belonging to twelve 

 genera ; and the Tiliaceae, fifty-eight species belonging to 

 nine genera. Although 25 per cent, of the species are 

 new, there are only three of the first natural order and 

 five of the second ; the rest belong to the Tiliaces, of 

 which nearly half are new. Nine out of ten species of 

 Pentace were previously undescribed, and only two others 

 are known. There are seven additional species of the 

 characteristic genus Elaocarpus, out of a total of twenty- 

 three. This is the largest number of any one genus, 

 though Sterculia comes next with twenty-two species. It 

 will be perceived that the new species are almost ex- 

 clusively trees. The flora of Malacca and Cochin-china 

 is exceedingly rich in the arboreous element ; the number 

 of new species described by Dr. King in his various 

 monographs and by Dr. Pierre in his " Flore Forestiere 

 de la Cochinchine " being something enormous. 



W. B. H. 



NO. I 143, VOL. 44] 



' Zoological Wall Pictures. Three Diagrams, each 32 

 inches by 42 inches. (London : S.P.C.K.) 

 The Animals of the World, arranged according to their 

 Geographical Distribution. Third Edition, Revised 

 and Re-drawn. Size, 58 inches square. (London: Moffatt 

 and Paige.) 

 The first named 'depict (i) fishes, as represented by the 

 cod, eel, and herring ; (2) chelonians, as exemplified by 

 the common water tortoise and the Greek land tortoise, 

 together with drawings of parts of the chelonian skeleton ; 

 (3) insect pests, in the personce of the Pine Bark and 

 Colorado beetles, the larvae of which are delineated. 

 The diagrams are both bold and accurate, and good of 

 their class. 



The second named embodies an attempt to represent 

 the distribution of the animals selected in latitudinal 

 series. The plan, although a good one, is manifestly 

 insufficient, inasmuch as by its means no provision can 

 be made for overlap. However, for a bold wall diagram, 

 the picture may be recommended. Its meaning is at 

 once obvious ; and a fact such as the occurrence of seals 

 and whales at extreme latitudes, which at once arrests 

 the attention, is sufficient in itself to arouse the spirit of 

 inquiry in any active mind. In future editions the word 

 " Some" might with advantage be substituted for the article 

 " The " which heads the title. 



Crozet's Voyage to Tasmania, New Zealand, the Ladrone 

 Islands, and the Philippines, in the Years 1771-72. 

 Translated by H. Ling Roth. Illustrated. (London : 

 Truslove and Shirley, 1891.) 



In 1769 a Tahitian was brought to Europe by Bougain- 

 ville as " a human curiosity." Afterwards he was sent to 

 the Mauritius, the Governor of which was instructed to 

 forward him to his destination. The task of restoring 

 him to his native land was undertaken by Marion du 

 Fresne, who was then a well-to-do resident in the tie de 

 France ; and thus originated the expedition the story of 

 which is recorded in the present volume. The' party 

 started in two vessels, and Marion proposed, in the course 

 of the voyage, to [do much exploring work — a kind of 

 enterprise for which he seems to have been well fitted, as 

 he had been a distinguished officer of the French navy. 

 Unhappily, some members of the expedition, including 

 Marion himself, were massacred by the Maories. The 

 voyage, however, was continued, and in 1783 an account 

 of it was published which had been compiled and edited 

 by the Abbd Rochon, the well-known traveller, from the 

 log of M. Crozet, who, after Marion's death, commanded 

 one of his two ships. It is this account which Mr. Ling 

 Roth has translated. The work will be read with interest 

 by students of the history of geographical discovery, and 

 a good many of M. Crozet's statements about savage life 

 have considerable value from the point of view of the 

 ethnographer and the anthropologist. A preface, and a 

 brief reference to the literature of New Zealand, are con- 

 tributed by Mr. J. R. Boos(?, Librarian of the Colonial 

 Institute ; and the volume contains, besides maps, very 

 good illustrations of some works of Maori art. 



Livingstone and the Exploratioti of Central Africa. By 

 H. H. Johnston, C.B., F.R.G.S., &c. (London : G. 

 Philip and Son, 1891.) 



This volume ranks with the best of the series to which it 

 belongs—" The World's Great Explorers and Explorations." 

 Mr. Johnston realizes fully the splendour of Livingstone's 

 achievements, and has succeeded admirably in bringing 

 out their significance in the history of African exploration. 

 He begins with two excellent general chapters dealing 

 with the " natural history " and the " human history " of 

 Central Africa ; and afterwards he gives vivid accounts of 

 all the various regions traversed by his hero. Thus the 

 reader is enabled to form his own opinion as to the value 



