212 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



referred to as table delicacies, for they resemble in taste shrimps 

 dipped in train-oil, and powdered with coal-dust ! The author con- 

 cludes : — " Man can eat insects : nothing in his anatomical organiza- 

 tion nor in his physiological functions prevents it. Man oi(;jht to eat 

 insects : first, because his cousins the monkeys, and his remote kins- 

 men the bats, in a word the primates [sic!] , eat them ; second, because 

 insectivorous animals outstrip the other kinds (especes) of their order 

 both by their more perfect organization, and by the excellence of their 

 intelligence"!! G. W. K. 



Die Geyadfiwiler Mitteleiiiopas von Dr. R. Tumpel. Eisenach, 1901. 



Students of nature owe their gratitude to Dr. Tiimpel for adding 

 to the comparatively scanty list of books devoted to orders of insects 

 that have long been much neglected, but which nevertheless are in 

 many ways closely connected with the well-being or otherwise of man, 

 and the success or failure of his undertakings. 



Dr. Tiimpel's work has been appearing m parts for some time, and 

 now in a complete form we have a quarto volume of some 300 pages 

 treating in a comprehensive manner of the Neuroptera, Orthoptera, 

 and Thysanoptera of Central Europe. 



After full introductions to the various subdivisions of the orders 

 treated, we have a short description, &c., of the various species. Of 

 the twenty-three plates, most of them printed in colours, the majority 

 are excellent, the Orthoptera being perhaps on the whole rather better 

 than the Neuroptera, though we think the Corduliine and Gomphine 

 dragonflies particularly good. Some of the smaller dragonflies should 

 have been magnified. Plate xii., giving figures of a dozen dragonfly 

 nymphs, is hardly satisfactory — the shape of the abdomen of LibeUula 

 depressa and the length of the legs of Cordalia cenea will make identifi- 

 cation difficult ; while the nymph named Aijrioti puella should probably 

 be Eri/thrunima naias. 



W. J. L. 



OBITUARY. 



It is with regret we have to record the death, on May 13th, 1901, 

 of Monsieur Alexandre Constant, who was well known as a thorough 

 entomologist. He described many new species of Micro-Lepidoptera, 

 but took little interest in the larger species. Monsieur Constant lived 

 in a pretty villa at Golfe Juan, near Cannes, though he usually spent 

 a part of the year in Corsica, or other parts of France. His garden, 

 in which he took a great interest, was planted with many beautiful 

 palms and other plants. He was a member of the Entomological and 

 Botanical Societies of France, and formerly President of the Horti- 

 cultural Society of Cannes. His death took place suddenly at his 

 Villa Niobe. He was in his seventy-second year, and leaves a widow. 



J. C. W. 



