SCIENCE GOSSIP. 



BRITISH LEPIDOPTEROLOOY. 



TT will be remembered that some time ago we 

 -*- noticed Mr. J. W. Tutt's first volume of " A 

 Natural History of British Lepidoptera " (Science- 

 Gossip, N.S., vol. vi., p. 275). In that volume 

 the author divided his subject into two parts, 1 the 

 first dealing with " The Origin of the Lepidoptera," 

 " The Ovum," " Embryology," " Parthenogenesis," 

 " Structure of the Lepidopterous Larva," " Varia- 

 tions of the Imagines of Lepidoptera," " Protective 

 Coloration and Defensive Structures of the 

 Larvae," and " Classification." In the second part 

 was considered " The Sphingo-Micropterygid 

 Stirps : Sub-families I., II., III., and IV.," " The 

 Micropterygides," " The Nepticulides," " The 

 Cochlidides," and " The Anthrocerides." The 

 whole volume formed a most valuable treatise, so 

 far as it went, on the order Lepidoptera, although 

 primarily intended for British students. We 

 received in due course the second volume of this 

 work ( 1 ), and regret that various events have 

 delayed an earlier notice of so important a book. 



Following the plan adopted in Vol. I., Mr. Tutt 

 again divided the subjects in the second volume 

 into two parts. The first is occupied by chapters 

 on " The Metamorphosis in Lepidoptera," " Inci- 

 dental Phenomena relating to Metamorphosis," 

 "External and Internal Morphology of the Pupa," 

 and " The Phylogeny of the Pupa." The second 

 section is occupied by a continuation of the 

 Sphingo-Micropterygid Stirps, the Sub-family V. 

 Psychides, and commencement of Sub -family VI., 

 Lachneides, occupying the rest of the volume. 



There cannot be any doubt as to the amount 

 of hard conscientious work put into this second 

 volume by the author. The result is that the 

 promise indicated in the first volume has been 

 more than fulfilled towards forming a really fine 

 book on the British Lepidoptera. Of course, 

 treated as has been the subject by the author, 

 these two volumes by no means exhaust it, and 

 we must expect much more from his pen before 

 an end comes to his labours in this direction. 

 Whilst contemplating the author's task, what he 

 has already done towards it, and the compara- 

 tively small leisure he has for this purpose, we 

 are arrested by admiration, if not amazement, 

 at his perseverance and dogged pertinacity. Added 

 to these qualities, so necessary to the successful 

 author, is that of originality, the valuable faculty 

 of arranging the work of others, and with his 

 own, weaving a plan independently of previous 

 writers. Such deviation from the beaten track is 

 never popular with the older students of any 

 subject, and especially is this so among the 



(1) A Natural History of the British Lepidoptera. A text- 

 book for students and collectors. By J. W. Tutt, F.E.S. Vols. 

 I. (January 1899) and II. (May 1900). London : Sonnenschein. 



lepidopterologists, the most conservative of 

 naturalists. Yet, in face of all opposition, Mr. Tutt 

 has slowly won for himself the respect deserved 

 by his work ; and, if not the whole of his audience 

 are disciples, he has awakened among them a wider, 

 more, scientific mode of thought and study than 

 has hitherto obtained among them. We all know 

 for how long the term " lepiclopterist " was but a 

 synonym for collector, and how readily the more 

 exact students in some other branches of science 

 sneered at them for " moth-catchers." This is now 

 passed, as there has arisen a numerous body of 

 scientific lepidopterologists, of which the author 

 of the volumes before us is the type. They will 

 engender in the rising generation of students of 

 this order, an entirely new system of work, as they 

 realise that identification and arrangement in 

 cabinet drawers is but the smallest part of the 

 duties of a good entomologist. 



The first portion of each of the two volumes 

 issued of Mr. Tutt's work on British lepidoptera 

 forms an elaborate natural history of earlier stages 

 of the order until we reach the pupa, which is most 

 fully and scientifically considered. Any student 

 following these chapters with thoroughness will 

 have a liberal education upon insect metamorphosis. 

 In addition he will meet with comparative points, 

 indicating the value of this knowledge, when 

 studying the question of evolution of animals in 

 the wider sense. 



With regard to the second portion of the volumes, 

 the old arrangement and consideration of the 

 lepidoptera have gone, and gone, we suspect, for 

 ever. Whether Mr. Tutt's views are wholly accepted 

 or not, he shows that with the present wider know- 

 ledge of the order in the embryonic stages the old 

 classification, founded on the morphology of the 

 perfect insects, is impossible. Therefore the reader 

 who will obtain this work must expect to be 

 " shocked," if he be an old collector ; but the shock- 

 ing should be for his benefit. 



In his treatment of Sub-family V., the Psychides, 

 we have by far the most comprehensive monograph 

 on them yet written in the English language. 

 Again, repeating our previous statement, the 

 amount of good work done by Mr. Tutt in the 

 330 pages devoted to the Psychides is astonishing. 

 It is very pleasing to find the amount of support 

 he has received from all parts of the continents of 

 Europe and America, friends and strangers alike 

 placing most valuable information at his service. 

 We have thus before us an unravelling of a most 

 complicated subject, Here, again, will be found 

 a rearrangement of facts of the utmost value 

 in the study of evolution at large. This work is 

 indispensable to all lepidopterists. 



John T. Caerington. 

 h i 



