192 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



EECENT LITERATURE. 



Additions to the Wild Fauna and Flora of the Royal Botanic Gardens, 

 Kew. III. Lepidoptera. By A. Langley Simmons. (' Bulletin 

 of Miscellaneous Information,' No. 5, 1907.) 



Working out the fauna and flora of a small, well-defined area — 

 always an interesting process — promises for Kew Gardens to prove of 

 special interest. Within the bounds of the Gardens no great acreage 

 is enclosed, yet it is wonderful how rich and varied a fauna has already 

 been found existent therein, and at present the lists of species noticed 

 for most groups of animals can be described as " preliminary" only. 



In the contribution before us we have thirty-one pages of matter, 

 illustrated by one plate — a flash-light photograph of a " sugar-patch " 

 with eight specimeus of Noctua xanthographa . Mr. A. L. Simmons, 

 with Messrs. G. Nicholson and A. Sich as coadjutors, must have 

 worked hard during 1906 to add 228 species to the previous list of 

 Lepidoptera. The newly- discovered species comprise 2 hawk-moths, 

 2 Notodonts, 1 Liparid, 44 Noctuids, 46 Geometers, 28 Pyralids, 

 43 Tortrices, 60 of the Tineina, and 2 of the Micropterygina. Some 

 of the most noteworthy additions are : — Triphmna subsequa, Caradrina 

 ambigua, Plusia moneta, Aspilates citraria, Chilo phragmitellus, Pandemis 

 dumetana, Chrysoclista linneelln y . Scythris chenopodiella, Yponomeuta 

 vigintipunctatus, and Adela cuprella. Mr. R. South was asked to 

 examine the insects before the list was finally compiled. 



Systematic work throughout the year was the means of achieving 

 so fine a result. The insects were sought for in all stages, and most 

 of the methods in use by collectors were employed to entrap the perfect 

 insects. " Sugaring" was tried from April to the end of October, and 

 in the latter part of the period with success ; " light " was more or 

 less a failure. Not a few cases of " melanism " are recorded, and 

 these are specially interesting in this instance ; but whether it is well, 

 while the cause of melanism is under discussion, to state definitely 

 that the soot of the Metropolis is the cause of it, seems a little open to 

 question. It is unfair, perhaps, to call attention to the only misprint 

 seen — jacobaa (for jacobaa) on page 157. W T T 



The Insect Hunter s Companion. By the Rev. Joseph Greene, M.A. 

 Being Instructions for Collecting and Preserving Butterflies, 

 Moths, Beetles, Bees, Flies, &c. Revised and extended by A. B. 

 Farn. Fifth Edition. London : West, Newman & Co. 1907. 

 If we desired to adversely criticise this modest little volume, we 

 should do so on the lines that it does not adequately represent up-to- 

 date knowledge. On reflection, however, we recognize the fact that 

 whatever information happens to be available at the present day has 

 been largely acquired by those who may very possibly have started 

 their entomological studies under the guidance of books such as this. 

 Further, we appreciate the reviser's observations in the preface to this, 

 the fifth edition, where he remarks " that it has been sought to leave 

 untouched, as far as possible, the information as first given" ; and, 

 again, " I should wish that the memory of the late Rev. Joseph Greene 

 should live long, not only with his contemporaries, but that it should be 

 transmitted through many generations of entomologists yet to come." 



