4.94 Annli/tical Notices of Books. 



agrees nearly with that of Pediculus, and is evidently more adapted for 

 adhering to other bodies than for progression ; the motion of the insect is 

 accordingly described as slow. In Pediculus the mouth during inaction 

 is indistinct, and in Margarodes this indistinctness, for we cannot for an 

 instant suppose a mouth to be entirely wanting in it, is so great as to have 

 induced Mr. Guilding to describe the insect as possessing none whatever : 

 the most practiced entomological dissector in England has also failed in 

 detecting any trace of such an organ in a specimen transmitted by 

 Mr. Guilding to this country. To the location of this very remarkable 

 insect among the Parasita, an important objection certainly suggests 

 itself in its habits, as hitherto observed, being entirely subterraneous, 

 and in its existence being confined apparently to a single stratum : but 

 it is probable that some circumstance may be discovered capable of re- 

 moving this difficulty, when the history of Margarodes, at present very 

 imperfectly known, shall be fully investigated by Mr. Guilding, whose re- 

 searches, at all times ardent, will doubtless be doubly active in the pro- 

 secution of so very interesting an enquiry. 



British Entomology, or Illustrations and Descriptions of the Genera of 

 Insects found in Great Britain and Ireland. By John Curtis, 

 KL.S., Vol. IF., [Nos. xxxvii— xlviii]. 



To repeat the praises which we have bestowed on the preceding vo- 

 lumes of this valuable work would now be superfluous. I^s interest con- 

 tinues undiminished, and its usefulness incrCvises as it advances in its 

 progress, rendering it indispensible to the scientific entomologist, whe- 

 ther his attention be directed solely to the study of our native insects, or 

 embrace the still wider field of inquiry afforded by those of other and 

 distant countries. Like its predecessors the present volume exhibits fi- 

 gures and descriptions, accompanied with detailed dissections, of forty- 

 eight genera, of which representatives are found in the British Islands. 

 Several of these are now for the first time proposed, and many others 

 have been hitherto unnoticed, or are illustrated by species of which no 

 traces are to be found in the works of previous writers. 



The Coleoptern figured are twenty-three in number, one genus alone 



