March, '03] entomological news. 91 



Entomological LiterattAre. 



Five Years' Observation and Experiments (1896-1901) on the Bionomics 

 of South African Insects, chiefly directed to the Investigation of 

 Mimicry and Warning Colours, by Guy A. K. Marshall. With 

 a Discussion of the Results and Other Subjects suggested by them 

 by Edward B. Poulton, Hope Professor of Zoology in the Uni- 

 versity of Oxford ; and an Appendix containing descriptions of 

 New Species by Ernest E. Austen, William L. Distant, Col. 

 Charles T. Bingham, Guv A. K. Marshall and Jules Bour- 

 geois. Trans. Entom. Soc. London, 1902, pt. iii, pp. 287-584, pis. 

 ix-xxiii. Nov 17, 1902. 

 This "memoir has been written upon and around the great mass of 

 valuable material supplied by Mr. Guy A. K. Marshall's observations, 

 experiments and captures from 1896 to 1901. So far as this material con- 

 sists of specimens it is open to the study and criticism of all naturalists ; 

 for it has been placed by the generosity of Mr. Marshall in the bionomic 

 series of the Hope Department in the Oxford University Museum. . . . 

 The first part of the . . . work, occupying just half of it, deals with the 

 experiments and observations upon insectivorous animals, and the con- 

 clusions and considerations arising out of this work. The experiments 

 on Mantidae, Kestrels and Baboons will be found to be especially numer- 

 ous and important. 



' "A table shows all the examples of Asilidae and the species forming their 

 prey which could be found recorded or preserved in the British Museum 

 and Hope Collection. The direct and indirect evidence of the attacks of 

 birds on butterflies meets objections which are often raised, and, indeed, 

 nearly the whole of this paper is an effective reply to those who ask for 

 facts rather than hypotheses. One very important side of the work is 

 the employment of Coleoptera on a large scale, and the clear evidence of 

 aposematic* and synaposematic colours in the group. A comparison 

 between the Coleoptera and Lepidoptera in this respect is attempted. 

 The first half of the memoir ends with a section discussing and criticizing 

 the conclusion that there is any great significance or value in human ex- 

 perience of the taste and smell of insects. 



" The second half of the work is more heterogeneous. Its first section 

 attempts to supply an interpretation of the startling seasonal phases of 

 butterflies of the genus Precis. . . . The remainder of the paper is chiefly 

 devoted to the description of an immense mass of material illustrating 

 mimicry and common warning colours in Rhopalocera, Coleoptera, 

 Hymenoptera, and to a less extefit Hemiptera. Many interesting con- 

 clusions emerge and are discussed." 



Prof. Poulton continues. ** I entirely agree with Mr. Marshall's opinion 



"^ Aposematic, referring to "an appearance which warns off enemies 

 because it denotes something unpleasant or dangerous." Poulton, The 

 Colours of Animals, table facing p. 338. 1890. 



