﻿REVIEWS. 175 



attain two inches in length ; the genus Onthophagus (thirty species) 

 contains many gaily-coloured beetles, — 0. rangifer is of a brilliant 

 ruby. The one hundred species of Buprestidae are generally large in 

 size. Elateridse are not common. The genera TelepJwrus and Mala- 

 chius are extensive, and most of the species common. The Tenebrionidse, 

 numbering over 400, inhabit the sandy veldt. Cantharidse, some of 

 which are prettily marked, find sixty-two representatives. South 

 Africa also possesses a vast quantity of weevils, many of which are not 

 found in other parts of the world. The Longicornia are much finer 

 than the British insects, especially the Transvaal species. Chryso- 

 melidaB are moderately common, some very showy. The genus 

 Donatio, is conspicuous by its absence. Cassidae are large and 

 numerous. The Hispidae (twelve species) are very strange-looking 

 creatures, being covered with spikes about two lines long. Mr. Jarvis 

 also gave information respecting the best time for collecting, and the 

 names of the coleopterists of Cape Town. 



April Brd. — The President in the chair. Mr. Baine exhibited a 

 bred specimen of P. rapes, L., without black tips to the wings. Mr. 

 Clark, a series of Rhodaria sauguinalis from north of Ireland. Mr. 

 Smith, a bred specimen of A. atropos, L., from Dartford. Mr. A. U. 

 Battley read a paper on the entomology and geology of the London 

 Basin. The discussion which followed was taken part in by Messrs. 

 Clark, Cripps, Lewcock, and others. — G. A. Lewcock and E. Hanes, 

 Hon. Sees. 



Birmingham Entomological Society. — March 17th, 1890. — The 

 President, Mr. W. E. Blatch, in the chair. — Messrs. C. R. Parsons 

 and H. R. Hodgkinson were elected members of the Society. Mr. 

 B. C. Bradley showed Asphalia flavicornis, from Solihull, in one of 

 which the stigmata had coalesced. Mr. H. M. Lee showed three 

 Hesperia, apparently lineola, which he had found in a collection, and 

 which he believed had been taken in Jersey. Mr. C. S. Wainwright 

 showed a collection of insects from Columbia, S. America, including 

 some fine Morphos, Papilios, Heliconias, &c. Mr. W. E. Blatch read 

 a note on a new species of the family Scydmaenina, which he proposed 

 to call Neuraphes planifrons. It was taken under bark of birch- 

 stumps, in company with S eg di nanus godarti and S. exilis, at Sherwood 

 Forest. — Colbean J. Wainwright, Hon. Sec. 



REVIEWS. 

 Larva Collecting and Breeding: a Handbook to the Larva of the British 

 Macro-Lepidoptera and their Food-plants, both in nature and con- 

 finement ; with Authorities. By the Rev. J. Seymour St. John, B.A. 

 Pp. 165. London : Wesley & Son. 1890. Post 8vo. 

 From the title, it might be gathered that some hints on collecting and 

 treating lepidopterous larvae would be found in the work ; but, as a fact, 

 there is nothing of the kind, and the second part of the title alone would 

 have sufficed. 



Although it treats only of the Macro-Lepidoptera, the author of this 

 little book deserves the thanks of British lepidopterists for the painstaking 



