156 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XX. No. 500. 



Professor Aug. Lameere, the eminent Bel- 

 gian coleopterist, who has for some time been 

 engaged in the praiseworthy work of revising 

 the Prionides of the world, has issued a con- 

 siderable portion of his monograph.* Aban- 

 doning older customs he has examined all 

 available material in the European museums, 

 and is thus able to furnish much synonymic 

 matter. Each species is fully described, some- 

 times with ethological notes, and there are 

 tables tO' the species of each genus. After 

 each genus he has a chapter on the relation- 

 ships and geographic distribution of the 

 species. 



Mr. J. E. Guthrie has prepared an account 

 of the CoUembola of Minnesota.f Pifty- 

 eight species are listed. There are synoptic 

 tables to the genera and species. Under each 

 species is placed the original description, to- 

 gether with notes by the author; full syn- 

 onymy is given, and there is a bibliography of 

 works consulted. The plates illustrate the 

 essential details of structure. It will be a 

 very useful book, especially for one beginning 

 the study of this neglected order of tiny in- 

 sects. 



The fourth volume of Tutt's exhaustive 

 work:); on the British Lepidoptera finishes the 

 Sphingidse. The thoroughness with which the 

 multitude of details has been arranged in this 

 work will never cease to excite wonder. Two 

 species occupy together over 130 pages. With 

 this volume there is published a synopsis of 

 the contents and general index to Volumes I. 

 to IV. In the preface Mr. Tutt gives an ex- 

 cellent criticism of the rules of nomenclature 

 used by Eothschild and Jordan in their recent 

 revision of the Sphingidai. It may be noted 

 that he uses Sesia in place of Macroglossum. 



The Annales du Musee du Congo, which for 

 some time has been published by the Belgian 

 authorities, has commenced to treat of the 



* ' Revision des Prionides, Maorotomines,' M6m. 

 Soc. Ent. Belg., XI., pp. 216, 1904. 



f ' The Collembola of Minnesota,' Geol. and Nat. 

 Hist. Surv. of Minn., Zool. Series, IV., Minnea- 

 polis, 1903, pp. 103, 16 plates. 



{ ' A Natural History of the British Lepidop- 

 tera,' Vol. IV., London, April, 1904, pp. 535, 3 pis., 

 by J. W. Tutt. 



insect fauna of the Congo region. Two por- 

 tions have been issued; one on the group 

 Prionides of the longicorn beetles, is by Pro- 

 fessor A. Lameere; the other on the family 

 Scutelleridse of the Heteroptera is by Dr. H. 

 Sehouteden. The work appears in fascicles 

 of folio size, and, if continued, will soon be a 

 rival of the Biologia Centrali Americana. The 

 plates appear to be fully equal to the best in 

 that work. 



E. Lynch Arribalzaga has described a new 

 species of bird-grasshopper,* Schistocerca per- 

 uviana, which does considerable damage to 

 cultivated crops in parts of Peru. It is closely 

 related to several of the other destructive spe- 

 cies, such as S. peregrina and 8. paranensis, 

 and more intimately to the American bird- 

 grasshopper of our eastern states, S. ameri- 

 cana. Nothing has been done in the way of 

 remedial treatment. 



In the same journal,f J. Brethes has given 

 a revision of the South American Vespidse, 

 and of the Eumenidee of the La Plata basin. 

 Synoptic tables are given, and there are de- 

 scriptions of many new species. E. L. Hom- 

 berg in the same journal (pp. 377-512) de- 

 scribes a great number of new bees and 

 fossorial hymenoptera, principally from Ar- 

 gentine. Nathan" Banks. 



THE INTERNATIONAL ELECTRICAL 



CONGRESS. 



We are informed that under the auspices 

 of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, an In- 

 ternational Electrical Congress will be held in 

 St. Louis during the week of September 12-17. 

 The congress will be divided into two parts, 

 namely : 



(1) A Chamber of Government Delegates 

 appointed by the various governments of the 

 world, invitations to which were issued at the 

 beginning of the year from the United States 

 government. The transactions of the Cham- 

 ber of Delegates will relate to matters affect- 

 ing international questions of electrical units, 

 standards, and the like. 



* ' La Langosta Voladora del Peru,' Anales Mus. 

 Nac. Buenos Aires (3), Vol. II., pp. 1-5, 1904. 

 t Ibid., pp. 15-39 and 231-320. 



