208 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS [xXXI, '20 



3. Upper Austral, sixty-eight species. This is the great Mississippi 

 Valley fauna of ponds and muddy streams, a very modern fauna of close 

 species, which is at present overflowing into the warmer parts of New 

 England. It is characterized by Argia 2 spp., Enallagnia 12 spp., Gomphus 

 12 spp., Libellula 4 spp., and Tetragoneuria 3 spp., etc. 



4. Lower Austral, nineteen species. All are odds and ends, the pioneers 

 of a very modern fauna such as Ischnura ramburi, Micrathyria, Libellula 

 and Tramea, which have slipped up the narrow, warm coast from the semi- 

 tropical gulf. In this group are a few species which are interesting because 

 they are able to inhabit brackish water alongside a true marine fauna of 

 crabs and other hideous creatures. Such are Enallagma durum, Ischnura 

 ramburi, Micrathyria berenice, Anax Junius, etc. This Lower Austral fauna 

 scatters into southern New England and a few species manage to round 

 the cape and get as far as the coast of southern Maine. This fauna must 

 be increasing at present. 



Opportunities at such problems on faunas, which are undoubtably 

 shifting, make all Odonate records in New England of great value, for 

 which reason Dr. Howe's manual is especially opportune. 



The reviewer feels that in any manual of this type there should be 

 added to the key and illustrations brief descriptions that contain the more 

 conspicuous specific characters to satisfy that innate craving of the human 

 mind for a check on the correctness of an identification. Such descrip- 

 tions are lacking, probably through necessity. Further, in some of the 

 genera, particularly Enallagma and Gomphus, the figures are hardly 

 sufficient to positively identify some of the difficult species, for in these 

 genera species are difficult even when illustrated with the clearcut line 

 drawings so well developed in the writings of Calvert and of Williamson. 



Altogether the Manual is a credit to the industry of Dr. Howe and un- 

 doubtably pleasing to the spirit of the critical Thoreau. — C. H. Kennedy, 

 Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. 



An Introduction to Entomology by John Henry Comstock, Profes- 

 sor of Entomology and General Invertebrate Zoology, Emeritus, in Cor- 

 nell University. Second Edition, entirely rewritten. Ithaca, N. Y. The 

 Comstock Publishing Co. 1920. Part I, 8vo. Pp xix, 220. 220 text figs. 

 $2.50. 



Professor Comstock is, we believe, fully entitled to the first place in 

 Entomology in America. He has signalized his Emeritusship and the 

 years immediately preceding by the publication of a surprising number 

 of important and comprehensive texts and handbooks. It is sufficient 

 to mention The Spider Book {igi2),The Wings of Insects {igi8)a.nd now 

 the present volume. In the preface to the last, dated from Cornell, June, 

 1919, he writes: 



"The following pages constitute the first part of a text book of entom- 

 ology that the writer has in preparation. This first part is published in 

 advance of the completion of the entire work in response to the request 



