432 Bibliographical Notices. 



A Monographic Bcvision and Synopsis of the Trichoptera of the 

 European Fauna. By Robert M'Lachlan. Parts I.-III. 8vo. 

 London : Van Voorst. Berlin : Fricdlandcr, 1874-1875. 



Theee is so much of the influence of fashion in the study of ento- 

 mology that one might almost numher upon one's fingers the natu- 

 ralists "who devote any attention to insects not belonging to one or 

 other of three orders. The great majority commence by collecting 

 Lcpidoptera, and never get much furthe- ; a considerable number of 

 the rest give their minds up to Coleoptcra ; whilst a few choice 

 spirits take up the study of certain families of Hymenopterous 

 insects, such as the bees, wasps, sandwasps, and sawflies. But outside 

 these bounds the entomological field finds few labourers, a 1+ hough it 

 must be admitted that greater interest attaches to some of the other 

 orders, at least from a philosophico-zoological point of view, than to 

 those which are generally studied. This is especially the case with 

 the insects belonging to the orders Orthoptera and Neuroptera, both 

 as including the oldest known forms of the class, and as presenting 

 peculiarities of structure and life-history which give them the 

 highest importance in those discussions as to the classification of 

 insects, and especially as to the possible genetic relations of those 

 animals among themselves and with other groups of Annulosa, 

 which, since the prevalence of theories of evolution, have acquired 

 such prominence. 



The Trichoptera, regarded by Kirby, Stephens, and "Westwood as 

 constituting a distinct order, are not perhaps in this respect of so 

 much interest as some other divisions of the old order Neuroptera ; 

 and although the history of their metamorphoses undoubtedly has its 

 attractive side, the perfect insects themselves are not distinguished 

 for their beauty, or for any striking variety of form and colouring 

 such as might induce the ordinary collector to pay attention to them. 

 The minuteness of the characters by which the genera and species 

 are to be distinguished renders their study rather difficult; and 

 doubtless this also accounts partially for the neglect with which 

 they have generally been treated. 



To this neglect, however, there have been some striking excep- 

 tions. In this country that universal genius, Dr. Leach, devoted a 

 good deal of attention to the Trichoptera, published descriptions of 

 some genera and species, and even projected a special work upon 

 them, which, however, never made its appearance. Leach was 

 followed in Britain by Stephens and Curtis, both of whom described 

 many new forms and introduced several new generic groups. Abroad 

 the most important early work specially devoted to the Trichoptera 

 was Pictet's treatise on the Phryganides of Switzerland, published 

 some forty years ago ; Kolenati in 1848 produced a revision of the 

 genera and species of the group ; and since that date many memoirs 

 on these insects, especially by Hagen and Brauer, have appeared in 

 German natural-history periodicals. 



In England at the same time we have had one entomologist 



