50 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



H. C. J. Druce, F.Z.S., William John Lucas, B.A., the Kev. Francis 

 D. Morice, M.A., the Hon. N. Charles Eothschild, M.A., F.L.S., Dr. 

 David Sharp, M.A., F.R.S., Colonel Charles Swinhoe, M.A., F.L.S., 

 and Colonel John W. Yerbury, R.A., F.Z.S. The President referred 

 to the loss sustained by the Society, in common with other com- 

 munities for the advancement of science and thought, in the death of 

 Mr. Herbert Spencer. He then spoke of the losses Entomology had 

 sustained during the past Session by the deaths of Mr, F. Bates, Mr. 

 W. D. Crotch, M.A., Mr. E. li. Dale, Herr Johannes Faust, Prof. A. 

 Eadcliffe Grote, the Rev. J. Hocking-Hocking, M.A., the Rev. T. A. 

 Marshall, M.A., Dr. P. Brookes Mason, the Rev. Canon Bernard 

 Smith, Mr. J. S. Stevens, and Mr. S. J. Wilkinson. He then delivered 

 an address on the subject of " What is a Species ?" What is there 

 to fill the vacancy left by the disappearance of the Linuean conception, 

 founded on " special creation " ? In many respects it would be advan- 

 tageous to abandon the word, or to use it solely with its original 

 logical meaning of " kind," or, as zoologists would say, "form." This 

 view was, however, regarded as " a counsel of perfection," impossible 

 of attainment; and the attempt was made to show that the conception 

 of a naturally and freely interbreeding (or syngamic) community lies 

 behind the usual definitions ; and that the barrier between species is 

 not sterility, but simply cessation of. interbreeding (or asyngamy). — 

 H. Goss, Ho7i. Secretary. 



EECENT LITEKATUKE. 



The Moth Book. By W. J. Holland, D.D., Ph.D., &c. Royal 8vo, 

 pp. xxiv, 479 ; pis. 48 ; figs. 263. New York : Doubleday, 

 Page & Co. Price 4 dollars net. 



This handsome volume forms one of a series of " Nature Books 

 with Coloured Plates and Photographs from Life " issued by an enter- 

 prising American firm at an incredibly low price. Many of our readers 

 are probably already acquainted with Dr. Holland's ' Butterfly Book,' 

 uniform with the present volume, which must have done more to 

 popularize the study of American butterflies than all previous works 

 on the subject put together. 



Moths are so much more numerous than butterflies that it would 

 have been impossible to treat them with equal fulness, unless a whole 

 series of volumes had been devoted to them ; but nevertheless nearly 

 eighteen hundred species are illustrated, including most of the larger 

 and more interesting species of North American moths, and a few 

 representative species belonging to the Micro- Lepiiioptera. Introductory 

 chapters are devoted to such subjects as life-history and anatomy, 

 capture, preparation and preservation, classification, and books ; and 

 much space is devoted to habits, economic importance, silk-culture, 

 &c. The non-technical portions of the work are written in an easy 

 and attractive style, interspersed with poetical and other quotations, 

 even from so little known a poem as Oehlenschlager's * Aladdin.' Here 

 and there we meet with small popular digressions, such as the section 

 entitled " The World of the Dark " (pp. 77-80). Why should not 



