Blbliograjjhlcal Notices, 59 



trapezoidalis, pronoto marginibus rotundatis, disco ante marginem 

 posticum tuberculo elevato armato. Hemeiytra apicem abdo- 

 minis pauUo superaiitia, corio clavoque augustissimis. Pedes 

 antici corporis diiuidio vix longiores, femoribus ad basiu biseriatim 

 setuloso-dentatis, trocbauteribus baud deutatis, tarsis triarticu- 

 latis. Abdomen elongato-obovatum, marginibus reflexis. 



Very like Ploiaria, Scop., difFering only in the unreflexed 

 side margins and tuberculate hind margin of the pronotum. 



40. Ploiariodes Whifet, Bin., n. sp. 



P. pallida ochraceo-brunnea, antennis, pedibus hemelytrisquc dilu- 

 tioribus, his fusco-brunneo maculatis, illis fusco-brunneo aniiu- 

 latis ; pedibus subtilissime pilosis ; antennis d parce longi- 

 pilosis. 



cJ at $ . Long. 61, lat. pronoti 1, lat. corp. postici 1-| m. m. 



Beaten from dead branches of trees at an elevation of about 

 4500 feet, on Mamia Loa, Hawaii. 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 



A Treatise on Comparative Emhryohgy. By Feancis M. Balfotth, 

 M.A., E.E.S. Vol. L 8vo. London: Macmillan, 1880. 



Among the niimerous benefits for which zoologists must own their in- 

 debtedness to Mr. Darwin, one of the greatest isundoubtedly the impulse 

 given, by the enunciation of his theory of the origin of species, to the 

 study of the embryology of animals. Of course there were embryolo- 

 gists in pre-Darwinian times, and many of the facts revealed by them 

 were among the most interesting ottered for the contemplation of 

 naturalists ; but the doctrine of the origin of species by descent 

 with modification immediately invested these facts with a now 

 interest. There seemed to be at once a confirmation and a key given 

 to that reproduction in developmental forms of the higher animals of 

 the characteristics of more lowly organisms, which was long since, if 

 somewhat vaguely, recognized. It was only natural to conclude that, 

 if the different living types were genetically related, some trace of 

 the line of descent ought to be found in the phases which they 

 passed through between the first appearance of the embryo and its 

 assumption of the adult form ; and observation showed that in fact in 

 many cases the ontogeny of the individual might fairly be regarded 

 as furnishing an abridged sketch of the ancestral development 

 or phylogeny of the species. Of course those natiiralists who ob- 

 jected to the doctrine of the genetic evolution of organisms were 

 free also to object to the phrases in which such conclusions as these 

 are couched ; but at the same time it must be admitted that the 



