1S90.] 1G3 



All Mr. Cabot's memoirs on this subject bear the impress of Dr. Hagen's super- 

 vision in editing the text. The beauty and fidelity of the plates cannot be surpassed. 

 Marvellous, indeed, are the short, broad, almost " square," forms of many of these 

 nymphs, as compared with the narrow elongate bodies of the perfect insects. 



Larva Collecting and Breeding : a Handbook to the Larv^ of the 

 British Macro-Lepidoptera, and their Food-Plants. By the Kev. J. Sey- 

 mour St. John, B.A. London : W. Wesley & Son, 1890 ; small 8vo, 165 pp. 



This little book will no doubt be found useful to that large class of British 

 Entomologists commonly known as " beginners." It is an industrious piece of 

 compilation, from most of the available sources, of the known food-plants of our 

 moths and butterflies to the end of the GeometridcB ; arranged in the first instance 

 according to the insects, and in the second according to the plants, well printed, and 

 with very few misprints. Of course, many species are nearly polyphagous, others 

 again are confined to one plant, or to allied plants, while still others can often be 

 induced to feed on certain plants in confinement, which are not eaten (or, if so, 

 only rarely) at large. Occasionally we note such extreme discrepancy in food-plants 

 in species not polyphagous that we are almost induced to doubt whether some error 

 in the original record may not have occurred. Our author's idea was to some extent 

 foreshadowed in Dr. Knaggs' ever useful " Lepidopterists' Guide," where the subject 

 of " substitute food-plants " is treated on at length, but not worked out systematically 

 all through, as in this book. No doubt almost any of our more experienced working 

 Lepidopterists could add very largely to the subject ; but no work of this kind can 

 aim at being perfect, and many of our younger workers will thank the author for 

 bringing together so much useful information. There is a copious index, but a little 

 confusing, owing to the English and Latin names of the plants and the genera of 

 the insects all being jumbled up together alphabetically. 



Louis Seiche passed away on May 16th in his 91st year. How many Entomo- 

 logists there may exist who have lived to so patriarchal an age we know not ; 

 they must be very few. He was one of the founders of the Societe Entomologique 

 de France, and, in 1874, was elevated to the rank of Honorary Member thereof. His 

 publications were very numerous, almost entirely on Coleoptera, and mainly appeared 

 in the " Annales." Those who knew him personally will remember an amiable man, 

 who had travelled much in Europe, and who could converse fluently in several 

 languages other than his own. His French colleagues who remain to deplore his 

 loss will no doubt in due time publish a detailed account of his life and works. 

 Originally he was a manufacturer and merchant in Paris. Some years ago he sold 

 his collections, and we much fear that in his old age reverses of fortune straightened 

 his circumstances. Our own reminiscences recall pleasant hours passed with him at 

 his house in the Rue du Vingt-Neuf-Juillet, Paris, where he resided for many years. 



L'AhM S. A. de Marseul. — Intimation of the very recent decease of this well- 

 known and much-respected Coleopterist has been received. We are without further 



