176 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IX. No. 214. 



4. Another brachypterous sea- coast form, 

 quite hairy and with colorational peculiarities, 

 has been found at Lake Worth, Florida, and 

 Fortress Monroe, Virginia, as recorded by Dr. 

 L. O. Howard. I do not know whether this is 

 Montandon's hirtus. 



It seems to the writer that the probability of 

 there being at least three species among the 

 above insects is great enough to deserve serious 

 consideration. If those who have the material 

 ■will boil up a number of each in caustic potash, 

 and examine the structural characters under 

 the microscope by transmitted light, it is prob- 

 able that new differences will appear, especially 

 in the male genitalia. If it can be established 

 that the seriously destructive insect of recent 

 years is B. devastator, and not B. leucopterus at 

 all, and that the former is still migrating east- 

 wards, the fact will not only be of scientific but 

 of economic importance.* 



t. d. a. cockeeell. 



Mesilla Park, N. M., 



November 24, 1898. 



Postscript, December 9th. Dr. L. O. Howard 

 writes me: "The eastern form [leucopterus'] injures 

 many plants, including rice. That it is apparently 

 more resistant to fungus attack, however, was shown 

 in a curious way last summer, when it damaged grass 

 lawns in the heart of the City of Brooklyn in an ab- 

 normally wet season and in spite of repeated drench- 

 ings from the sprinkler hose. " 



A Manual of Chemical Analysis, Qualitative and 

 Quantitative. By G. S. Newth, Demonstrator 

 in the Eoyal College of Science, London. 

 New York, Longmans, Green & Co. 1898. 

 Pp. vii + 462. 



This book is a decided departure from the 

 usual manuals of qualitative and quantitative 

 analysis. The author has endeavored, and 

 with much success, to present a book which 

 will teach the theoretical as well as the prac- 

 tical side of analytical chemistry and to avoid 

 as far as possible teaching mechanical opera- 



* On p. 50 Professor Webster notes that few chinch 

 bugs died from the parasitic fungus in the timothy 

 meadows of northern Ohio. These were the B. leucop- 

 terus, which, coming from a relatively damp region, 

 may have acquired greater powers of resistance to the 

 fungus attack than B. devastator, from the dry 

 prairies of the far West. 



tions. He has divided the volume into twa 

 parts: Book I., of 136 pages, treating of qualita- 

 tive analysis; and Book II. , giving the methods of 

 gravimetric and volumetric analysis of inorganic 

 substances, including the analysis of the more 

 simple gases, of the determination of carbon, 

 hydrogen, nitrogen, sulphur and the halogens 

 in organic compounds, and of some simple 

 physico-chemical experiments. 



The subject of qalitative analysis is treated 

 in a broad way, and the student who follows 

 the text conscientiously will obtain a wide 

 knowledge of general chemistry. The author 

 first shows how the subject can be classified ac- 

 cording to the reaction with the group re- 

 agents, and then considers the properties of 

 the separate elements. The general chemistry 

 of each of the more common elements is dis- 

 cussed, giving only those properties which are 

 useful for the separation and identification of 

 the elements in analysis, and after having con- 

 sidered the properties of a group of elements 

 there is given a summary of the particular 

 properties which are utilized in separating the 

 members of the group. The general reactions 

 taking place, the properties of the substances 

 and their compounds are so clearly stated and 

 the subject is so logically developed that the 

 qualitative separation of the substances fol- 

 lows naturally, and the quantitative separation 

 is but a step further. This is particularly true 

 of that portion of the book which treats of the 

 oxidation and reduction of iron, chromium and 

 manganese compounds. The reactions of chro- 

 mium and the separation in the presence of 

 phosphates, which are often difficult points for 

 the student to grasp, are fully and satisfactorily 

 explained. The separation of iron, chromium 

 and aluminium is based upon the oxidation of 

 chromium to chromic acid by sodium peroxide 

 and the solubility of aluminium hydroxide in 

 sodium hydroxide, and should commend itself 

 more favorably than the usual methods of 

 separation for this group. Another point 

 which deserves special mention is the fact that 

 after each group follows an appendix in which 

 the properties of the rarer elements of that 

 group are considered. The concluding chapter 

 of the portion of the book devoted to qualita- 

 tive analysis is full of sound advice on the in- 



