RECENT LITERATURE. 151 



lantern slides by Messrs. Tonge, West (Ashstead), Lucas, Dennis, 

 and Edwards, including series illustrative of the resting attitudes of 

 insects, the crystals formed from various solutions, rare plants from 

 the New Forest, details of insect structure, various plants attacked 

 by galls, and the natural history and structure of the cockroach. — 

 Hy. J. Turner, Hon. Rep. Sec. 



KECENT LITERATURE. 



Dermaptera (Earwigs) : the Fauna of British India, including Ceylon 

 and Burma. By M. Burr, D.Sc, M.A., &c. London. 1910. 



Apart from its first-rate importance in connection with the Fauna 

 of British India, there are two special ways in which this work will 

 be of very great use to entomologists generally. For one thing, we 

 have at last a satisfactory classification of the whole of the earwigs, 

 the author treating them as he intends doing in the general revision 

 and monograph of the earwigs of the world, which he has in hand. 

 He is inclined to consider these insects as a distinct order (in which 

 we scarcely agree with him) consisting of five families — ApachyidaB, 

 Pygidicranidae, Labiduridae, Labiidae, and Forficulidae. The other 

 feature of interest to all is the full, interesting, and very readable in- 

 troduction giving the description and life-story of the earwig in 

 general. The now well-known case of the jointed cerci of the imma- 

 ture Diplatys is adequately referred to. This, it appears to us, is one 

 feature amongst others linking up the earwigs with other Orthoptera. 

 The species described are one hundred and thirty-five in number, in- 

 cluding two with a query ; fifty-four of these are not represented in 

 the British Museum. The book is illustrated by ten fine plates (one 

 coloured), containing one hundred and four figures, and by sixteen 

 figures in the text ; it contains a full bibliography. 



■ ■ W. J. L. 



A List of the Neuroptera of Ireland (' Proceedings ' of the Royal Irish 

 Academy, vol. xxviii. Branch B, No. 2). By J. J. F. X. King and 

 J. N. Halbert. Dublin. 1910. 



This publication of eighty-three pages, which is considerably more 

 than a mere list, brings us up to date with the known distribution of 

 the Ii'ish Neuroptera in the older wide sense of the word. It appears 

 that there are two hundred and forty species known as compared 

 with three hundred and eighty-four for Great Britain ; it is therefore 

 clear that much work remains to be done. Specially interesting 

 results may be expected from the south-west of the island, when that 

 district comes to be systematically worked. Since the dragonfly 

 Somatochlora arctica occurs there, what may not be expected? We 

 note that the peculiar insect, Psectra diptera, has been found in 

 Co. Wicklow, and that at last a scorpion-fly [Panorpa germanica), 

 from Co. Cork, may be added to the Irish list. The paper contains a 



useful bibliography. 



W. J. L. 



