NATURE 



69 



THURSDAY, JUNE 19, 1890. 



BRITISH AND ORIENTAL CICADID^. 



Monograph of the British Cicadce, or Tettigidce. By 

 G. B. Buckton, F.R.S. Illustrated by more than Four 

 Hundred Coloured Drawings. (London ; Macmillan 

 and Co., 1890.) 



A Monos^raph of Oriental Cicadidce. By W. L. Distant. 

 (Calcutta : Indian Museum. London : H. S. King and 

 Co. 1890.) 



THE insects forming the family of the Cicadidae of 

 Westwood are among the largest of the Homoptera, 

 and by far the largest number of the known species are to 

 be met with in the warm regions of the world. Some fifty 

 years ago but one species of this family seems to have 

 been recorded from Great Britain — it was found in the 

 New Forest, and figured by Curtis as Cicada anglica. 

 Curtis thought it did not sing, because a specimen kept in 

 confinement by Mr. Dale for two or three days was mute. 

 Kirby and Spence, however, were informed that it was 

 very noisy, and, adds Prof. Westwood, "analogy would lead 

 to the belief that it does sing, the drums of C. orni not 

 being comparatively larger." Weaver found the pupa-cise 

 of this insect attached by the legs to the stem of a fern. 



Great have been the changes within the last half- 

 century, during which all the above-mentioned well- 

 known names, but that of the respected Professor of 

 Zoology at Oxford, have been numbered among those of 

 the dead ; and now the number of the species of the 

 "British Cicadae " — using this word, however, in a wider 

 sense — is about 230. Mr. G. B. Buckton, F.R.S. , so 

 well known for his excellent monograph of the British 

 Aphidze, has published the first two parts of an illus- 

 trated monograph of our native " froghoppers and 

 grassflies." 



Although not of large size, like their tropical brethren, 

 our native species are of great interest, and as to this 

 date there has been no serious attempt to publish an 

 adequately illustrated history of even the European forms, 

 the appearance of this monograph is all the more wel- 

 come, and its publication will, no doubt, very greatly 

 facilitate the study of these insects. 



It is proposed that this monograph shall be published 

 in eight quarterly parts, and these will be illustrated by 

 about eighty coloured plates. Part i was issued in 

 January, and Part 2 in April of this year. 



The monograph opens with an introduction, in which 

 the author tells us that he proposes to treat his subject 

 under the following heads : Etymology, and the ancient 

 notices of the Cicada or Tetix ; classical allusions and 

 poetic myths relating to them ; a biographical sketch of 

 the writings and investigations of authors who have con- 

 sidered the subject ; a terminology and description of the 

 parts available for classification ; general remarks as to 

 their life-history, reproduction, &c. ; diagnosis of species, 

 accompanied by coloured representations of the British 

 species of these insects ; notes on variation and distribu- 

 tion ; remarks as to the probable antiquity of the group, 

 as shown by their remains in the rocks, amber, and fossil 

 NO. 1077, VOL. 42] 



resins ; and, in addition to all this, in an appendix, there 

 is to be a bibliographical list of the chief modern authors 

 who have studied the Cicadae ; and a short list of an- 

 cient and modern quotations, for reference and for use by 

 the curious. Certainly, we have here the programme of 

 a very large and entertaining volume. 



We would suggest that Mr. Buckton should not limit 

 his bibliographical list to the " chief authors who have 

 studied the group," but that he should, if even at the cost 

 of cutting out some of the folk-lore, make this list a com- 

 plete one. Indeed, if we are to judge of the promise by 

 the present performance, it would perhaps be wiser for 

 the author to dwell more on the descriptive and biblio- 

 j graphical portions of his work, than on those appertain- 

 j ing to the literature thereof, for no small research, of a 

 j peculiarly special character, would be necessary before one 

 could successfully write the history of the ancient notices of 

 the Cicadas, recall all the classical allusions that have been 

 made to them, or even give an account of the early scien- 

 tific writings about them. We agree with the author that 

 " the ordinary scope of a monograph is the description of 

 the forms, life-history, distribution, &c., of the species 

 contained in it," and hence we regret that he should have 

 added so much to his labours by venturing, in this volume, 

 on other fields of research, with which there seems to be 

 some proof that he has not been so familiar. Thus, on 

 p. iii. of the introduction we read that " the first English 

 author who wrote on the Cicada was Dr. Thomas Moufat, 

 or Mouffet, an English physician, who flourished in the 

 reign of James I. In 1634 he wrote, in foUo, a curious 

 Latin treatise on zoology, having for its title, ' Insectorum 

 sive minimorum Animalium Theatrum.' " On p. xx. we 

 find a short account of this book, which is said to be 

 " somewhat rare " ; it is therefore reasonable to conclude 

 that Moufet's volume was in our author's hands, but, if 

 so, he could never have read over the dedicatory epistle, 

 from which he, however, quotes, with any care. If we 

 are able to judge by his spelling of Moufet's name, even 

 the title-page was not carefully examined. A glance at 

 Hagen's " Bibliotheca Entomologica," or at Burmeister's 

 " Manual of Entomology," would have guarded the 

 author from a great many mistakes. 



Moufet was a physician living in London ; he was born 

 in 1550, and, according to Burmeister, he died in 1604. 

 From the little known of him, it does not appear that he 

 was an entomologist. His little volume, " N osomantica," 

 treating of the prognosis of disease, was published in 

 1588, and he died "in poverty." Conrad Gesner had 

 laboured hard to complete his " Historia Animalium" by 

 a history of insects, based on Wotton, but he died before 

 he had made much progress with it. Pennius took up the 

 subject, worked at it for 15 years, and then too died, 

 leaving many drawings and fragments of descriptions in 

 manuscript ; whereupon Moufet tells us he arranged 

 these descriptions in order, "added to them the light of 

 oratory which Pennius wanted, and so constructed" 

 the history referred to. Born during the reign of Mary, 

 Moufet flourished in the days of Elizabeth, and died at 

 or about the time King James ascended the throne. In 

 1634, when the work of Wotton (of Oxford), Gesner, and 

 Pennius first saw the light, as " wove together " by 

 Moufet, Charles I. was on the English throne ; and, as 



I 



