RECENT LITERATURE. 367 



3ad submedian nervule of primaries, similar to that found on P. ganesa 

 and others in this group. Mr. Watson also showed, on behalf of Mr. J. C. 

 Hudson, who has for years lent rare insects to these soirees, a drawer of 

 both sexes of P. ascanlus, and a variety of the female ; also P. agavus in 

 both sexes. — Henry Hyde. 



EEOENT LITEEATUEE, 



The Life of a B utter flg : a ChajJter in Natural Historg for the General 

 Reader. 16mo, 186 pp., 4 plates. By Samuel H. Scudder. Henry 

 Holt & Co., New York. 



This charming little volume is written in a style so untechnical 

 that the general reader, to whom it is addressed, will find no difficulty 

 in understanding it, and will be both interested and instructed. To 

 the British reader, even if he be a scientific entomologist, the book will 

 be very welcome, because it brings together, in a small compass, a vast 

 amount of concentrated information regarding Anosia plexippus, which, 

 since the year 1876, has been occasionally taken in England in all of 

 the counties having coasts on the English Channel. It must not, how- 

 ever, be supposed that the work deals only with Anosia plexippus, but, 

 to use the author's own words, "By using a single butterfly as a special 

 text, one may discourse at pleasure of many." 



Chapter IV is particularly interesting ; it treats of the vagrancy of 

 the species. Even in America, there is strong reason to believe that 

 it is a regular migrant north of 40°, or perhaps even further south, on 

 the Atlantic border, and that its real home is in the tropics. Although 

 the arrival of the butterfly in the spring has not been clearly observed, 

 the departure in the autumn of immense flights passing southwards has 

 been often seen. 



With regard to this autumnal migration. Dr. John Hamilton, of 

 Alleghany, Pennsylvania, says, writing from New Jersey: — "The 

 multitude of this butterfly that assembled here the first week in 

 September (1885) is almost past belief. Millions is but feebly 

 expressive, — miles of them is no exaggeration." There is very little 

 doubt that this was a genuine migration, because it is stated that "not 

 a stalk of their food-plant {Asclepias) grows on the island." 



In Chapter VII the subject of " Scent-scales : a question of sexual 

 selection," is treated of. The author arrives at the conclusion that 

 androconia are organs for the production of scent, and that the sense 

 of smell is in the antennae of Lepidoptera. This chapter is particularly 

 valuable to purely British entomologists, because in works on our 

 indigenous Lepidoptera the existence of these organs is generally 

 ignored. 



Chapter IX is a good lesson in classification, dealing with the 

 correlation existing between the abortive legs of the male and the 

 hanging of the chrysalis in the Nymphalid^. 



Chapter X is devoted to nomenclature, a subject in which Mr. 

 Scudder has no superiors, and is therefore highly instructive. It 

 appears that the conservatism of the American entomologists causes 



