REVIEWS. 20* 



that the: head of the former is never horned ; the colour is also slightly 

 different. The figure No. 6 is said to represent a sphingid moth larva 

 but it is not true to life having no horn on the 12th segment : the 

 eighth abdominal segment. It is evidently one of the ChcerocamjM or 

 Theretra class by the attenuated fore-part and the thickened thoracic- 

 segments, but none of these caterpillars are without the horn on 

 the eighth abdominal segment. Plate X is badly executed ; the wasps depicted' 

 are all too pale in colour, the lines are coarse and the colours are bad ; the same 

 may be said of Plate XIII. Although the figures are enlarged, which mio-ht 

 account for a certain amount of apparent coarseness, still they compare very 

 unfavourably with the figures in, for example, " Genera Insectorum." Plate- 

 XVI (upper half) is perhaps the worst of the lot ; the beetles look more like 

 hedgehogs than anything else. However it is perhaps unfair to carp at the few 

 bad pictures when there are so many of them, in fact the very large majority, 

 which are so excellent. There are none that are not recognizable at a glance 

 for what they are intended to represent and many of them are very perfect. 

 The coloured plates of the locusts are extremely good. 



The amount of information contained in the book is very great and the- 

 whole of it is exceptionally accurate ; the arrangement of the matter is very 

 good and complete. The introduction is an able exposition of the whole sub- 

 ject treated of. General entomological questions affecting sex. duration of life.. 

 relations to flowers as influencing cross-fertilization of plants, relations of 

 insects to each other such as the habits of certain groups connecting them 

 with ants, protective colouring and shape, &c, are treated of in appropriate 

 places throughout the book, in short well written articles full of interest. 

 These articles add to the value of the work from all points of view; they draw 

 attention to most that is known about the ways and habits of insects, suggest 

 many points that require study and elucidation and impart quite a large 

 amount of information in a very small space. 



Mr. Lefroy has produced a very valuable work that marks a distinct advance 

 in Indian entomological literature. His name will be remembered for long 

 years as the writer of the first text-book on Indian Insects, and " Indian Insect 

 Life " will be the only source of information available to schools and 

 colleges in this country for the next dozen years. Would that it had been 

 published before. May it have the sale it richly deserves. 



INSECT INTRUDERS IN INDIAN HOMES." 



By E. P. Stebbing. 

 Mr, E. F. Stebbing has written a little book entitled " Insect Intruders in* 

 Indian Home? " which, he informs us, in the Foreword, is " a modest and' 

 altogether popular account of a few of the commoner Insect Intruders " met 

 with in homes, gardens and jungles in this " Land of Exile." It is quite 

 prettily got up, is illustrated with many illustrations of the subjects dealt .with 

 on a very broad margin of page round a somewhat meagre column of print, an* 



