JuLy 29, 1915] 
NATURE 
585 

not been previously figured. An economy now 
commonly practised, and no doubt very necessary, 
shows the wings only of one side. This should 
redeem from heartless ridicule the proverbial pig 
with only one ear, but by depriving the moth or 
butterfly of its bilateral symmetry it makes it 
somewhat of an artistic failure. A carcinologist 
is apt to find variation in colour-marking very 
untrustworthy for specific distinction. The en- 
tomologist, on the other hand, appears to rely 
upon it with considerable confidence. 
(2) This is further exemplified in Mr. Claude 
Morley’s revision of the Ichneumonide, although, 
so far as illustration goes, that work is in striking 
contrast to the generous treatment of the Lepi- 
doptera. For Part iv., with more than forty new 
species, has only a single figure. This one 
example, however, is furnished with the full com- 
plement of wings, antenne, and hexopodal appur- 
tenances, and is to some extent suggestive of the 
“remarkable grace and beauty, combining delicacy 
of outline with both fine and brilliant, not infre- 
quently metallic, coloration,” which Mr. Morley 
claims for the objects of his study. It is rather 
unfortunate that the plate unmistakably shows an 
insect in which the wings have each a brown band 
and brown apex, while the Joppa nominator, 
Fabricius, which it is said to represent, is de- 
scribed by Fabricius as having “alis omnibus 
fascia apiceque nigris” (“Ent. Sys.,” vol. ii., 
p- 158, 1793). Mr. Morley reveals without ex- 
plaining the discrepancy. 
(3) Prof. Bezzi’s work on the African Diptera 
of the family Syrphidz is less abstemious in the 
matter of illustrations, and, besides a_ useful 
explanatory diagram, furnishes very full and im- 
portant keys for the discrimination of the genera 
and species. Mr. C. J. Gahan’s verdict may well 
be accepted that the present treatise “greatly 
advances our knowledge” of the group. There 
are said to be about 2300 described species, and 
the difficulty of dealing with them is attested by 
E. Brunetti, who some years ago said of the 
genus Syrphus, “this genus I do not touch upon 
at present in view of the large number of supposed 
species described from Oriental regions, and their 
close affinities” (“Records Ind. Mus.,” vol. ii., 
P- 57 1908). 
(4) Passing now from the air to the water, it 
will be found that Mr. D. G. Lillie gives as many 
illustrations of the Cetacea as could be expected 
from his opportunities, seeing that he starts with 
the acknowledgment that the Terra Nova “did 
not succeed in capturing any specimens of this 
group.” He mentions the belief of whalers that 
humpback whales rub themselves against rocks to 
get rid of the Balanid Coronulae. To this 
NO. 2387, VOL. 95] 


‘ opinion there are two objections: one, that with 
the Coronula once fixed in the whale’s soft skin, 
more irritation would probably be caused by 
rubbing it off than by leaving it alone; the 
other, that the soft-stalked Lepadid Conchoderma 
so curiously and prominently planted on the 
Balanid implies that the Coronula is a place of 
exceptional security. 
(5) Dr. G. A. Boulenger’s fine catalogue of 
fresh-water fishes of Africa is now continued in 
a third volume, with promise of a fourth. The 
species described are 394, and there are 351 text- 
figures, 45 of them species not in the British 
Museum collection. It is pleasant to observe that 
for the Muraena anguilla of Linnzus Dr. Boulen- 
ger accepts the name Anguilla vulgaris, Turton, 
in place of the barbarous tautology in which some 
authorities delight. In dealing with the Cichlide, 
which occupy three-fourths of the present volume, 
he is forced to admit that Nature is sometimes 
very ill-natured to the conscientious systematist, 
spoiling the best-laid schemes of classification by 
a very inconvenient interlacing of characters. 
This appearance, however, of what our distant 
cousins call Schadenfreude is not due to a pure 
delight in mischief, but is the simple result of 
that universal consanguinity in which the sincere 
evolutionist is bound to believe. In a synopsis of 
41 genera, and a further synopsis of a genus with 
94 species, there are pretty sure to be some 
entanglements. To lovers of odd fishes, Psettus 
sebae may be commended, with its “body deeper 
than long,” a species figured life-size by Seba as 
Chaetodon quadratus. The mouth of Corematodus 
shiranus, Boulenger, must be useful for hygienic 
mastication, but disagreeable to its prey, as its 
massive jaws are fitted with ‘extremely broad 
bands of innumerable minute club-shaped teeth.” 
(6) In Mr. Preston’s treatise, “wherever pos- 
sible, illustrations of hitherto unfigured species 
have been given.” The author regrets that he 
“can, in most instances, only deal with the shells 
of the species quoted,” material for anatomical 
work not being available. But in his Introduction 
he is able to give several interesting bionomic 
notes, and for the anatomy of one species, Mulleria 
dalyi, Smith, he has a sad satisfaction in quoting 
largely “from the late Mr. Martin F. Woodward’s 
invaluable Paper on the subject.” In some of 
his references Mr. Preston leaves the student 
rather in the dark. Thus he cites :—“ Theodoxis, 
de Montfort, Conch. Syst., il., 1810,° p. 350; 
Neritina, Lamarck, 1822 [Neritine, 1809]. Type, 
T. lutetianus, de Montfort (fluviatilis, Linn.)”, 
without saying whether Neritine is French or 
Latin, or where it is to be found, and without 
showing that p. 350 in de Montfort is only a plate, 
