\"ol. XXV] ENTOMOLOGICAI, NEWS 4/7 



Water Reptiles of the Past and Present. By Samuel Wendell 

 WiLLisToN, Professor of Paleontology in the University of Chicago. 

 The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. Published 

 October, 1914. 8vo, pp. viii, 251. 131 figures. $3.00 net, postage 

 extra, weight 2 lbs., 5 oz. 



Although this volume has been sent "to the literary editor for edi- 

 torial use," we confess that we would find it impossible to notice it in 

 an entomological journal were it not that its author is a famous dip- 

 terologist. Perhaps the word "insects" may occur in it elsewhere than 

 on page 141, but if it does it is hardly likely to be more than the inci- 

 dental mention of the class to be found there. It is not given to many 

 men in our day to achieve distinction in two groups so distinct as the 

 Diptera and the Reptilia, and we regret that Prof. Williston has more 

 or less abandoned the former for the latter. Certainly the extinct 

 reptiles, of which this work chiefly treats, appeal more strongl}-^ to the 

 imagination, by reason of their size and often grotesque shape, than 

 do the flies, even though the influence of the latter on human exist- 

 ence has been, and is. a thousand fold greater. Prof. Williston's non- 

 entomological book is very interesting both to the entomologist and 

 the non-entomologist, and the most general chapter in it — Chapter V, 

 on the "Adaptation of Land Reptiles to Life in the Water" — has sug- 

 gestions of value even for the first kind of readers. 



There is one feature of the book which we must criticise unfavor- 

 ably, just as we did in speaking of another production of the same 

 University Press in the News for February last. This is its great 

 weight avoirdupois. We urged then, and we repeat now, that books 

 intended to be read should have light weight paper for the text, the 

 heavy sort to be used only as plates for half-tones, if necessary at 

 all.— P. P. C. {Advertisement.) 



Doings of Societies. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SECTION, ACADEMY OF 

 NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 



Meeting of March 26, T914. IMr. Philip Laurent, Director, 

 presided. Eight persons were present. 



Dr. Skinner exhibited a race of Amhulyx strigilis (Lepid.) 

 from Florida, taken at Miami, by Mr. Morgan Hebard. This 

 is the form called corteri by Rothschild and Jordan. 



Mr. R. C. Williams exhibited specimens of Argynnis laurenti 

 from Park County, Montana, taken July 5 to 7, 1913. Also 

 Coetionympha haydeni and Erehia cpipsodea from the same 

 locality. 



Mr. Rehn said he and Mr. Hebard had lately been studying 

 the genus Melanophis. The last monograph was by Scudder 

 in 1897, while Morse has done considerable work on the genus. 



