464 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



which promises to be a standard book of reference on the subject 

 of which it treats. 



A Handbook of British Lepidoptera. By Edward Meyrick. 8vo. 

 pp. 843. With text cuts, showing the Neuration of Typical 

 Species. London : Macmillan & Co. 1895. 



In a well written Introduction of twenty pages, Mr. Meyrick 

 foreshadows the plan and scope of his work, which may be 

 commended for its originality and comprehensiveness. The 

 preparation of more than 800 closely-printed pages indicates a 

 vast expenditure of thought and labour, which it is to be hoped 

 will not have been bestowed in vain. Entomology is a subject 

 which seems to increase annually in popularity, and of late years 

 has been rendered more than ever fascinating through the efforts 

 of workers like Miss Ormerod, and some of the American State 

 Entomologists, who have given us such interesting life-histories 

 of many of the insects which are injurious to agriculture. This, 

 however, is not Mr. Meyrick's aim in the present volume, which 

 is an elementary guide to the classification of the Lepidoptera, 

 designed to enable collectors to identify specimens with accuracy, 

 and acquire such general knowledge of structure and affinities as 

 ought to be possessed by every student of Entomology before 

 proceeding to more special investigations. 



The chief merit of this work, so it seems to us, lies in the 

 fact that the structural characters have in every instance been 

 described from the author's own observations. The importance 

 of this becomes apparent when we remember that Stainton's 

 1 Manual of British Butterflies and Moths,' so long regarded as a 

 leading text-book, is sadly deficient in this respect, since it affords 

 no satisfactory information on structural distinctions (except in 

 the Tineina, which that author had specially studied), the nearly 

 valueless characters assigned to the other groups being simply 

 copied from other writers, and mainly from the pseudo-scientific 

 work of Guenee. 



Mr. Meyrick's ' Handbook,' on a sounder basis than the 

 ' Manual,' bids fair to supersede it. From it a species may be 

 quickly identified by means of the Analytical Keys which form a 

 special feature of the work, and following the " Introduction " is 

 a useful " Glossary," and a " List of Abbreviations of Author's 

 names.' 



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