JVota Acta Academi<jc JS^atura: Curiosurum. 477 



sion without interrupting the principal circulation. Thus we see the 

 circulation of the wings going on in more or in fewer vessels; thus the 

 currents in the anlenncB and joints of the legs pass to a greater or less 

 extent along those organs ; and thus a certain degree of desiccation may 

 take place in some perfect insects, by means of which the entire flow of 

 blood is restricted within the circle in which it probably takes its origin, 

 until at length even this vanishes, and death supervenes after a few 

 successive oscillations of the heart." 



Of three papers in systematic Entomology contained in the volume, 

 the first, by Dr. J. L. T. F. Zincken Sonimer, is entitled " Beitrag zur 

 Insekten-Fauna von Java, Erste Abtheilung," and forms the commence- 

 ment of a series of memoirs on the insects of Java, founded partly on 

 materials contained in the authour's own collection, and partly on others 

 submitted to his examination by Dr. Blume, and an unnamed correspon- 

 dent. He seems to have been altogether unaware, although the date of 

 the publication is in 1831, that a work on the same subject was in pro- 

 gress in this country, of which two numbers, containing a portion of 

 the Papilionidce, made their appearance in 1828 and 1829. It is con- 

 sequently a somewhat singular coincidence that, in this first section, the 

 genera of PapilionideB selected for illustration (the arrangement adopted 

 being that of Fabricius's inedited " Systcma Glossatorum") almost 

 exactly correspond with those which still remain unpublished in Dr. 

 Horsfield's valuable work. In adhering to the Fabrician mode of ar- 

 rangement, the authour has had the advantage of possessing a copy of 

 the first seven sheets (all that had been printed, when the insolvency of 

 the bookseller put a stop to the further progress of the impression) of 

 the "Systema Glossatorum," which a lucky chance, as he informs us, 

 put it in his power to obtain. It does not appear whether it would be 

 possible to obtain other copies of this long-lost treasure, of the existence 

 of which we had previously no information ; but the manuscript of the 

 remaining portion seems to be regarded as irrecoverable. The seven 

 sheets which Dr. Zincken possesses, contain descriptions of the species 

 of Urania, Amathusia, Papilio, Zelima, Morpho, Cethosia, Castnia, 

 Euplaa, Apatura, Limeniles, and Cynthia, and of the first seven of 

 the genus Vanessa. He candidly acknowledges the manifold imper- 



