NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 895 
to favourable consideration as being reproduced from photographs, 
and to a certain extent experimental. But, except in the case of 
butterflies, in which the colours are very strongly contrasted, 
photography is rarely very successful. Any defect in the setting 
or condition is faithfully reproduced, and one side of the same 
figure is frequently much more distinct than the other. Further 
experiments are necessary before photographic representations of 
butterflies can be regarded as preferable to good woodcuts; while 
coloured figures, unless so inaccurate as to convey a totally false 
idea of the insect, are, in the reviewer's opinion, far preferable to 
plain ones, and are almost necessary for beginners. Mr. Kane, 
however (p. xxvi.), takes an opposite view, observing—‘“ Coloured 
plates, though attractive to the eye, are (unless of rare merit) 
too frequently useless, if not misleading, to the student.” 
On turning to the body of the work we at once encounter its 
most serious defects. Mr. Kane has unfortunately adopted a 
plan so imperfect as to render his book useless to beginners, 
unless they use it in conjunction with others; and it is to be 
regretted that no attempt has been made to make it complete 
in itself within its own limits. No characters are given for the 
families, except for the Hesperiide ; while the observations 
prefixed to some only of the genera are of the most general 
character, and rarely give any idea of the appearance of the 
species which they include. Mr. Kane remarks (p. xxi.), “‘The 
niceties of arbitrary classification, many of which will become 
obsolete with a wider study of this order of insects, are out of 
place in a work of such small compass.” But, as a rule, the 
families and genera of European butterflies are well-defined and 
natural, and are capable of being explained in a few words. 
Whether a group is a family or subfamily, and its position in a 
natural system ; and whether a genus admits of subdivision or 
not, are questions which would be out of place in a popular work; 
but this is no reason why all information on the characters of 
families and genera should be withheld, nor why everyone who 
does not happen to know the genus to which a butterfly belongs 
should be obliged to work through the entire book to find it, for 
want of a few words which would point out its approximate 
position. Under Papilio machaon the author writes, ‘‘A descrip- 
tion of the British swallow-tail is unnecessary. The bright 
primrose gro. col. f. w. [ground-colour of fore wings] is in this 
