PRESS NOTICES OF VOL. II. 



"The second volume of Mr. Tutt's great work fulfils the promise of the second, and indeed 

 supplies some chapters which were wanting to complete matters of a general character. That 

 most striking of all the attributes of insects, metamorphosis, is in this second volume treated at 

 length, the observations and theories of the well-known leading authorities on the subject being 

 stated and discussed with especial reference to the many recent contributions to the know- 

 ledge of it by Dr. Chapman, to which great prominence is given, and whose views are 

 generally adopted by Mr. Tu;t. There is a separate chapter on phenomena incidental to 

 metamorphosis, such as the passing sometimes of several years in the pupal stage, and the 

 impossibility in such cases of forcing. The external morphology of the pupa has a chapter to 

 itself, the author correcting some common errors as to the structure and significance of the 

 different parts, and setting forth the view that the pupa is the (modified) representative of the 

 ancestral form of the insect, from which the larva on the one side, and the imago on the other, 

 have been developed. Professor Poulton's views are discussed very fully, and in some cases 

 combated. Many interesting questions are treated in a separate chapter on the internal 

 structure of the pupa, including the formation of the wings, and of the scales upon them. The 

 chapter on the phylogeny of the lepidopterous pupa is by Dr. Chapman, whose previously 

 published writings on the subject are well known, and it is unnecessary to say that it is 

 characterised by great fulness oi original observation and carefully thought-out conclusions. The 

 introductory chapters noticed occupy as far as the hundredth page ; the rest of the volume, com- 

 prising 467 pages, is taken up with descriptions of species and all that belongs to them, in the 

 same copious style as in the first volume. Over three hundred of the pages are occupied with the 

 superfamily of the Psychides, that strange tribe with the extraordinary females — fleshy bags — to 

 our eyes singularly repellent and even loathsome, but most fascinating and attractive to their gay 

 and active partners. There is no accounting for tastes, especially where sex comes in. These 

 three hundred pages present all that is known of the British species, with very full references to 

 many others, and a complete catalogue of the species of the Palaearctic region. Vast labour has 

 been devoted by the author and his coadjutors to this part of his work, a study of which is 

 indispensable to all who desire to be fully informed on this obscure and difficult subject. The 

 rest of the volume is occupied with a portion of the Lachneides, which many will know by the 

 older name Lasiocampidae, or, as Stainton called them, the Bombycidae, the woolly brown moths 

 with large and beautiful caterpillars, which are the delight of young collectors and breeders. 

 The present volume takes in our old and familiar friends, the "December moth " ( Poecilocampa 

 populi), Trichiura crataegi, the "small eggar. " Lachneis ( Eriogaster) lanestris, and the 

 " lackeys," Malacosoma (Clisiocampa) neustria and casirensis. The volume is completed by that 

 great desideratum, a full index, and there are several plates. . . . We would venture to suggest 

 that in the forthcoming volume, to which we look forward, there should be a table of contents, nam- 

 ing the species treated of. It may seem a little ungracious to find any sort of fault — though only in 

 matters of very minor importance — in this most valuable work ; our excuse must be that we wish 

 to render it even more so. With this we must for the present conclude. Nothing but a 

 lengthened study, such as there had been no time to give it, could do justice to the work : and 

 when we think of the amount of attention necessary to assimilate its contents, we are filled with 

 admiration of the labour that must have been devoted to its production." — F. Merrifield, F.E.S., 

 The Entomologist. August, 1000. 



"It is pleasant to write a few words in appreciation of the second volume of Mr. J. W. 

 Tutt's British Lepidoptera. Of the great utility of the work there can be no doubt whatever, 

 and the punctual appearance of Vol. II will be a matter of general congratulation amongst 

 naturalists. Mr. Tutt's work aims at being, in the first place, a complete collection of all that 

 is as yet known of the natural history of the species dealt with. These books are no mere 

 compilations, but in the fullest sense original treatises. No pains have been spared to get 

 together everything that relates to the structure, distribution, variation, life-history and habits 

 of each form in its several stages. Many of the facts, thus given, are new, a large part being 

 the results of the author's own direct observation. Moreover, much of the information here 

 published has been communicated privately to Mr. Tutt by his numerous correspondents, and 

 the mass of facts, given at first hand, is greatly increased. This is especially the case in regard 

 to the life-histories, which, in many instances, have been worked through in minute detail by 

 Mr. Tutt and his coadjutors expressly for this book. Owing to the wide appeal which the 

 author has made to living entomologists for such personal records, and to his laborious researches 

 into the literature already printed, the book probably represents the sum of existing knowledge 

 on the subjects contained. It is a special charm of Mr. Tutt's treatise that the reader has a 

 comfortable sense that his author is giving hiui no scamped work. Everything capable of 

 verification has been verified, and nothing is repeated in slovenly fashion unchecked. For such 

 a work, not only professed entomologists, but all naturalists who, from time to time, require 

 precise information as to lepidoptera, will be grateful to Mr. Tutt, and his books will be required 

 in every working library of natural history. Nothing of the kind has hitherto been attempted, 

 and by reference to them much searching and weary correspondence will be avoided. The 

 present volume deals with the Psychides and part of the Lachneides. Whether the views 

 adopted by Mr. Tutt on questions of classification and the like are sound or not, can, of course, 

 only be judged by specialists, but it will be evident to any student of zoology that he has 

 attacked these problems in a most fruitful way, and that, in each of the numerous discussions of 

 special questions, he has provided a marshalling of the facts which will help succeeding students. 

 Several sections of this kind are introduced, relating to general questions of the morphology of 

 lepidoptera, especially the nature of metamorphosis and the structure of pup.-e. In addition to 

 these there is an important chapter written by Dr. T. A. Chapman on the phylogeny of the 

 lepidopterous pupa, a subject on which he is the recognised authority." — W. Bateson, M.A. 

 F.R.S., The Entomologist' s Record. September, 1000. 



