RECENT LITERATURE. 171 



Museum. The room was suitably decorated with plants, flowers, pictures, 

 &c., and on lines of tabling in the centre and around the Hall were 

 arranged cases of insects, birds, shells, corals, sea-weeds, ferns, fossils, &c., 

 and a variety of interesting curios. Sir J. T. D. Llewelyn, the President 

 of the Society, sent valuable contributions from his splendid collections, 

 considered to be the largest in the West of England. The members of the 

 Society exhibited upwards of 1 50 cases, most of the insects in which were 

 captured in the neighbourhood, proving the richness of the district from a 

 naturalist's point of view. A special feature in the arrangements was the 

 opening the Exhibition in the afternoon, from 3 until 6 o'clock, to afford — 

 especially for the younger portion of the community — the advantage of an 

 inspection by daylight of the vast number of interesting objects which had 

 been gathered together; the schools of the neighbourhood were well repre- 

 sented, and a considerable number of other visitors availed themselves of 

 the opportunity. All the arrangements were eminently successful, and the 

 desire was fully expressed that similar exhibitions might be held on future 

 occasions. — J. Wallis, Ho7i. Sec. 



EECENT LITEEATUEE. 



A Monograph of Oriental Cicadida. By W. L. Distant, Fellow of the 



Entomological Societies of London, Belgium, France, and 



Stockholm. Author of ' Ehopalocera Malayana,' ' A Naturalist 



in the Transvaal,' &c. With 15 plates (partly coloured) and 



woodcuts. Published by order of the Trustees of the Indian 



Museum, Calcutta. 4to, London, 1889 — 1892, pp. xiv, 158. 



The completion of this important work (delayed by Mr. Distant's 



visit to the Transvaal during its progress) has been awaited with much 



interest by all Homopterists, and we heartily congratulate the author 



on the successful completion of his undertaking. He states that his 



unpublished catalogue of Cicadidge contains about 82 genera and 720 



species, of which 34 genera and 268 species (nearly all of which are 



figured) are included in the present work, which deals with Eastern 



Continental Asia, and the greater part of the Malayan Archipelago, as 



far as New Guinea. We could have wished that Australia, Tasmania, 



and New Zealand, had also been included; but we presume it was 



necessary to limit the extent of the work, not, perhaps, so much on 



account of the actual number of Australian species as because the large 



size and remarkable character of many of them would have required 



additional plates to illustrate. 



Mr. Distant's preface deals chiefly with general matters relating to 

 the geographical distribution, habits, &c., of the insects; and we are 

 pleased to find that he closes by gratefully acknowledging the good 

 work done by his artist, Mr. Horace Knight. He concludes his book 

 with a good general index, and another of geographical distribution. 



The bulk of the work consists of descriptions of genera and species ; 

 and in the case of species which the author has not been able to 

 examine at home, the original description is reproduced. This is well, 

 and a far more satisfactory course than that adopted by some authors, 

 of giving an independent description of a species which they have con- 



