REVIEWS. 233 
The Annual Address of the President, Mr. Stanley Edwards, 
touches upon many subjects, some of great interest and importance. 
Glancing through, we notice the statements, culled from the Journal 
Heonomic Entomology, that the annual damage in the United States 
to animal and vegetable products by insect pests is reckoned at 1,400 
million dollars, or 10 per cent. of the total. value of the crops, that 
the spread of the ‘‘ Gipsy Moth” in the same country, which has been 
a matter of conjecture, has been traced to the presence on the young 
larvee of certain inflated balloon hairs, enabling the little insects to 
travel long distances with the wind, and also that the supply of 
Tachinid flies has been found very successful in combatting this 
destructive enemy. The Address concludes with instances of the 
medical and (locally) gastronomic uses of insects. The first paper, 
printed ‘‘in extenso,”’ is.a short one by Mr. EH. J. Bunnett, who set 
himself to find out: how some small larve manage to walk upside 
down upon the underside of a glass plate, and gives a photograph of 
a part of the quickly constructed road by which they travel in that 
position. Mr. Bunnett has another paper (with a plate) on the 
pupation of some Vanessids. The old, old question, as to how the 
pupa gets rid of the larval skin without falling here meets with an 
- answer, and the athlete ‘‘ jump,” which we seem to have read of some- 
where, is, one hopes, finally killed. 
Mr. R. Adkin’s paper upon Scopula (Acidalia) marginepunctata 
brings together pretty well all that is known in Britain of the history 
and nomenclature of this erratic insect; erratic, that is in the ex- 
perience of the writer, who, having once or twice in his lifetime taken 
it in abundance, has observed its absence during long intervening 
periods. 
Mr. B. W. Adkin, dealing with “some insects injurious to 
Forestry,” invited a remark upon the instance of gross and ignorant 
carelessness on the part of the authorities responsible for the felling 
of timber for war purposes, in leaving the debris rotting on the 
eround, to harbour the enemies of trees, and keep the races in form 
to destroy, or at least to injure, the new growth. 
We are bound in common fairness to recall the cry of objection 
when these waste branches were burned, as destructive and inexcusable 
when the country was suffering from shortage of fuel. The real 
trouble probably being that transport was not available. 
Then there is a paper on “ British Fern Varieties,” by Mr. F. W. 
Thorrington, which opens ones mind to the limitations of insular 
situations. There are, it would appear, but 43 recognised species of 
Fern, indigenous to Britain, yet the recorded varieties of these 43 quite 
outnumber those of any other part of the globe. : 
Mr. Frohawk has a paper upon the ‘‘ Migration of Birds,” in which 
he observes the probable causes, the sense of direction, and the 
enormous speed at which our winged neighbours are able to travel. 
The papers conclude with one by Dr. Boulenger upon “ British 
Batrachians,’ which would appear to be very inclusive, and of great 
interest to those who study these animals. 
In the Abstract of Proceedings, there is a very exhaustive account 
of the variation of Aglais urtieae. _ Though we had our suspicions, 
we had no realisation of the number ‘of named. forms of this species. 
Doubtless Mr. Turner’s painstaking note will be of great interest and 
service to those who specialise in this insect. 
