Febbuaet 7, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



221 



In the chapter on growth and transforma- 

 tions of insects the authors fail to make very 

 clear the real distinction between complete 

 and incomplete metamorphosis. " The trans- 

 formation of the butterfly from the cater- 

 pillar is a complete one, and is known as a 

 complete metamorphosis. The growth of the 

 grasshopper, on the other hand, is gradual and 

 presents no striking changes, and is known as 

 incomplete metamorphosis." In view of this 

 definition the elementary student will be at a 

 loss to understand why later in the book the 

 Aptera are said to have no metamorphosis. 

 As illustrations of the types of metamorphosis 

 an account is given of the life history of the 

 squash-bug, differential locust, tent caterpillar 

 and spiny elm caterpillar. The account of the 

 squash-bug is apparently from first-hand ob- 

 servation, the others are poorly digested from 

 Morgan and Weed. A confusing error occurs 

 in the account of the differential locust; Fig. 

 66 shows five grasshopper nymphs of various 

 sizes and the legend says " First three stages 

 of the nymphs of the differential locust " ; 

 Fig. 68 shows the last two. The text says 

 that the different stages will be found in Fig. 

 67, which is a picture of an egg mass. 



Part II., The Classes of Insects, opens with 

 a chapter on classification which the authors 

 could improve greatly by adopting a more 

 direct and concise style. 



The orders are then taken up in the usual 

 sequence and treated very briefly. There is a 

 superabundance of good figures, mostly bor- 

 rowed, and the text often takes the form of a 

 running comment on the pictures in the style 

 of a stereopticon lecture, rather than a con- 

 nected account to which the illustrations are 

 subordinate. Of the 496 figures in the book, 

 406 or over 80 per cent, are borrowed from 

 other works or are from borrowed photographs. 

 Is there not danger that the elementary stu- 

 dent might get the idea from these borrowed 

 pictures that entomology is a second-hand 

 science? Most of the figures are good, but 

 some could be greatly improved. Some of the 

 cuts of butterflies attributed to Fiske are very 

 poor; the specimens seem to have been slightly 



out of focus and the negatives thin and flat. 

 The bronze copper butterfly is certainly not so 

 rare that there is any excuse for using a pho- 

 tograph of a mutilated specimen. Fig. 116, 

 labeled " A Myrmeleonid, the adult of the ant- 

 lion," is a Chrysopid. 



This portion of the work contains many 

 misstatements, only a few of which can be 

 noted here. The long rows of tree-cricket 

 eggs in raspberry canes are still credited to 

 GEcanthus niveus in spite of the recent work 

 of Parrott (Fig. 110). In speaking of the 

 armored scales, the surprising statement is 

 made that "with the first molts the female 

 loses her legs and eyes, and the body becomes 

 a mere mass of yellowish protoplasm with 

 long thread-like mouth-parts," etc. The 

 American rose-slug is given one generic name 

 in the figure (Fig. 385) and a different one 

 in the text; a similar slip occurs in the case 

 of the screw- worm fly (Fig. 376). On page 

 243 it is stated that most of the larvae of the 

 Hymenoptera live within the food, exception 

 being made of the first two families (Tenthre- 

 dinidae and Siricidss). This is an inaccurate 

 statement in the ease of the larvae of most of 

 the aculeates as well as many parasitica. The 

 remarks upon the ovipositor of Siricidse apply 

 only to that family in the strict sense, and not 

 at all to the other families, which we are forced 

 from the keys to assume are included under 

 the term Siricidse. The only definition of the 

 stigma that is found appears in the state- 

 ment under Cynipidae that they lack " the 

 dark spot or stigma toward the end of the 

 anterior margin of the wings." The largest 

 Braconidas are stated to be not over one eighth 

 of an inch in length, and the largest Procto- 

 trypidffi not over one twenty-fifth of an inch; 

 an astonishing statement in view of the fact 

 that the typical genera Bracon and Procto- 

 trypes both contain species measuring 10 mm., 

 not to mention still larger common forms in 

 other genera. 



In Part ITL, Laboratory Exercises, six chap- 

 ters are devoted to the external and internal 

 anatomy of insects, the comparison of differ- 

 ent types of arthropoda and of insects, the 

 study of mouth-parts, etc. These exercises 



