7224 Notices of New Books. 



by the beetle on the woods around, which they had previously attributed to such-lilce 

 vague causes as dry rot, fungus, ulcers, &c., and I am persuaded that more careful 

 investigation will invest the ravages of the Hylobius with a degree of importance they 

 have not hitherto received. 



" By this post I send you a small box containing specimens of the beetle of both 

 sexes. One pair at least were captured in conjunction. I also send pieces of a stem 

 of a young larch, showing how completely they have gnawn the bark. I find trees of 

 all ages are attacked by them. On large trees the twigs that have been gnawn wither, 

 but the rest of the tree looks healthy. Branch after branch, however, is destroyed, 

 and then the top withers and the trunk dies. The numbers of the beetles are so great 

 that I can suggest no means for destroying them. They are evidently on the increase, 

 and will soon leave not a larch alive. I have also found them attacking the spruce 

 occasionally. 



" Have you been able to make any more discoveries of the habits of the Hylobius 

 from the German work you showed me ? I should be glad of any hints you can give 

 me to direct further examination of the subject. As far as I can observe, the breeding 

 season is now begun, but I have failed to discover any eggs or larvae" — E. S. 



Notices of New Books. 



^Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society.'' Supplemental 

 tovol.iv. Zoology. July 18, 1860. 8vo ; 112 pp. letterpress ; 

 1 outline Plate. Price 2s. 



This part of the ' Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society ' 

 contains three papers : — 1. "Descriptions of New Species of Hyraen- 

 opterous Insects collected by Mr. A. R. Wallace at Celebes ; " 

 2. " Descriptions of Hymenopterous Insects collected by Mr. A. R. 

 Wallace in the Islands of Batchian, Kaisaa, Amboyna and Gilolo, and 

 at Dory in New Guinea." Both these papers are by Mr. F. Smith of 

 the British Museum. 3. " Catalogue of the Dipterous Insects col- 

 lected in Amboyna by Mr. A. R. Wallace, with Descriptions of New- 

 Species ; " by Mr. F. Walker, F.L.S. 



I am extremely pleased to see the Linnean Society adopting plain 

 Roman type almost exclusively in the ^Proceedings' before me. There 

 is something extremely confusing and therefore objectionable to my 

 mind in the alternation of Roman and Italic sentences and words, as 

 in the ' Insecta Britannica ' and other modern works on Entomology. 



