118 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF ONTAPJO. 



Monograph of the Bombvcine Moths of America Nortii of Mexico, including their 

 transformations and origin of the larval markings and armature. Part I., family 1, 

 Notodcntidre. By Alpiiels S. Packard. National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 

 V1L, 1895 (received May 11th, 1896) j 292 pages, 49 plates, and 10 maps. 



Dr. Packard's long promised monograph has at length appeared. The copious text 

 is divided into ten sections : I., Introduction ; II , Hints on the mode of evolution of 

 the bristles, spines, and tubercles of Notodontian and other caterpillars ; III., Oncer- 

 tain points in the external anatomy of Bombycine larva; ; IV., On the incongruence 

 between the larval and adult characters of Notodontians ; V., Inheritance of characters 

 acquired during the lifetime of Lepidopterous larvae ; VI , Geographical distribution of 

 the American Notodontidse ; VIL, Phytogeny of the Lepidoptera ; V1IL, Attempt at 

 a new classification of the Lepidoptera ; IX., A rational nomenclature of the veins of 

 the wings of insects, especially of the Lepidoptera ; X., Systematic revision of the 

 Notodontidse, with special reference to their transformations. 



Most of these have previously appeared as separate articles, as the reader will recall. 

 The life-histories are given as fully aa our present knowledge will allow, much of this 

 •knowledge being due to Dr. Packard's own labours. The plates illustrating them are 

 beautifully coloured, the early stages highly magnified. These plates must be seen to be 

 appreciated. 



A few remarks in criticism of the memoir will not be understood to imply a lack of 

 appreciation of its many valuable features. In general the synoptic tables of subfamilies, 

 genera, and species are pcor and uncritical. They are no improvement over those of the 

 author's monograph of Geometries, to which the same criticism applies. In all the 

 figures of larvae the setae are imperfectly shown, and their number and position are not to 

 be relied upon. I corrected for Dr. Packard a number of the plates in this respect, but 

 the corrections were necessarily made from memory and on general principles, and there 

 is not a figure which ha3 the authority of a careful copy from nature. Even the special 

 figures in the text are often gcossly erroneous ; e. g., figure 9, on page 63, where the back 

 and side views of the same larva are shown as different. Dr. Packard also fails generally 

 to describe the arrangement of the setae in the text. 



The classification of the Lepidoptera which is used is original with the author. It 

 has been already presented in the American Naturalist, where I have had occasion to 

 notice it. In rejecting the classification of Prof. Comstock, the author argues that the 

 frenulum is of small value in classification, because both frenulum and jugum are present 

 in some Jugatae, and the frenulum is absent in some Frenatas. While we may admit this 

 argument for what it is worth, it seems that Dr. Packard entirely mi3ses the great cumu- 

 lative force of the evidence adduced by Prof. Comstock and others for these suborders. 

 Classifications founded on the venation alone [Eampson], the wing scales [Kellogg], and 

 the antennas [Bodine] give the same suborders. I have also shown that the larval charac- 

 ters do not support Dr. Packard's view. But Dr. Packard gives no weight to larval 

 characters, in spite of the implication in the title. 



Harrison G. Dyar. 



Missouri Botanical Garden. Seventh Annual Report, 1896. 



Very few reports are more eagerly looked for every year by those who are lucky 

 enough to secure copies than Prof. Trelease's report on the Missouri Botanical Garden 

 and the Henry Shaw School of Botany at St. Louis, Mo. This report contains not only 

 the Director's annual statement on the condition of the Garden and its finances, but also 

 valuable monographs on different genera of plants. In the present volume we find the 

 following : I. '1 he J uglandaceai of the United States, by Prof. Trelease ; II. A Study 

 of the Agaves of the United States, by A. Isabel Mulford, and III. The Ligulate Wolfiias 

 of the United Stvtes, by C. H. Thompson. A feature of all these annual reports is the 

 magnificent illustrations. 



In addition to the above, there is the report of a speech delivered at the sixth annual 

 banquet, by Piesident Henry Wade Rogers, of the North-west University, on The Value 



