502 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVII. No. 430. 



arctic genera will lead us to unite many sup- 

 posed to be distinct, but the fact will remain 

 that the two faunse are very dissimilar. Every 

 lepidopterist who has collected on both sides of 

 the Atlantic can remember conspicuous Euro- 

 pean genera wanting in America, and vice 

 versa. In a work of such magnitude as the 

 one under review there are of course some 

 things that may be criticised adversely. A 

 few of these may be regarded as simple errors, 

 but most are objectionable to the reviewer 

 only because his opinions differ from those 

 of the author. The greatest fault, as it seems 

 to me, is the illogical treatment of varietal 

 names, but it must be confessed that their 

 proper treatment is a matter of great diffi- 

 culty. If it were proposed to discard all 

 names applied to mutations or seasonal forms, 

 and let the trinomial always stand for a geo- 

 graphical race or subspecies, this would at 

 least be logical. In the list, however, we find 

 pure synonyms, names of aberrations and 

 some names of geographical races, lumped to- 

 gether , as synonyms of the species, so that it 

 looks to the uninitiated as if modern writers 

 had proposed new specific names for the com- 

 monest and best-known butterflies! On the 

 other hand, as valid varieties appear sub- 

 species, seasonal forms and in some cases 

 mere individual variations. Under Eurymus, 

 the albinic females of two species appear as 

 valid varieties, while precisely similar forms 

 of others are placed in the synonymy or 

 wholly ignored. The fact is, our American 

 lepidopterists have been so busy describing the 

 new species continually coming to hand, that 

 they have not had time to consider a philo- 

 sophical plan for recording the different kinds 

 of variation. This work, hitherto somewhat 

 despised, is for the future, and when it is 

 properly done we shall see its great value 

 from the standpoint of evolution. 



The treatment of localities in the list is 

 unsatisfactory, being in many instances in- 

 complete, some few species being only re- 

 corded as coming from a foreign country, 

 though we presume from their presence in the 

 catalogue that they have been taken in the 

 United States. A really adequate account of 

 the distribution of the American lepidoptera 



could not be prepared at the present time, as 

 its necessary basis, a good series of local lists, 

 does not exist. 



Several species are very briefly described as 

 new in the list. The descriptions are hardly 

 adequate, and no precise localities are given, 

 but I understand from Dr. Dyar that a future 

 paper will remedy these deficiencies. Several 

 generic names are changed because of ho- 

 monymy; some of the changes have been made 

 because of prior similar but not identical 

 names, such changes being, in my opinion, 

 unnecessary and undesirable. It has been 

 overlooked that Trama is the name of a genus 

 of Aphididse. The later lepidopterous Trama 

 (Harvey), Bull. Buff. Soc, 1875, may be called 

 Lepidotrama, a name I had given it in MS. 

 some years ago. The species are Lepidotrama 

 detrahens (Walker), L. hinna (Geyer) and 

 L. griseipe.nnis (Grote). The butterfly genus 

 Tachyris, described by Wallace, is curiously 

 credited to Wallengren.. The generic nomen- 

 clature of the butterflies follows in the main 

 the conclusions reached by Scudder many 

 j'ears ago, and is consequently materially dif- 

 ferent from that in current use. The actual 

 omissions are very few; one notices at the 

 very beginning the absence of Parnassius 

 nomion minor Elwes, and Iphidicles ajax 

 floridensis (Holland). For no. 4Y5, I would 

 write Copwodes waco (Edw.), and G. waco 

 procris (Edw.), the name waco being the 

 older. The printing of the work is admirable, 

 but the binding is very poor. 



T. D. A. OOCKERELL. 



East Las Vegas, New Mexico, 

 February 28, 1903. 



Disinfection and Disinfectants. By Dr. M. 



J. Eosenau. 



This book containing 350 pages is divided 

 into three sections. The flrst part deals with 

 the best of the disinfectants and insecticides 

 in common use. The second deals with the 

 places and objects to be disinfected. In the 

 third part the important communicable dis- 

 eases are considered separately, and the char- 

 acteristics of the bacteria peculiar to them and 

 the special means required to destroy them 

 described. Malaria and yellow fever are 

 given special mention. 



