NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 239 



delight and instruction in the past, and is still anticipated as a 

 cherished hope of the future, but there are birds in this country — 

 to go no further afield — to which only organised protection can 

 prevent ultimate extermination, for ignorance of their habits is a 

 principal cause of their destruction. In this first instalment of 

 the series, the birds described are Owls, Woodpeckers, Starlings, 

 Swallows, Kingfisher, Osprey, Dippers, Nightjar, Titmice, Kestrel, 

 and Plovers, and a woodcut is given of each, so that he who reads 

 can clearly understand. Not only are their food and habits 

 enumerated, but the penalties for their destruction are clearly 

 detailed, a perusal of which will certainly surprise many a bird- 

 nesting boy and amateur bird-catcher. 



A Hand- Book to the Order Lepidoptera. Vol. IV. Moths, Part II. 

 By W. F. Kirby, F.L.S., F.E.S., &c. W. H.Allen & Co., 

 Limtd. 1897. 



This is another volume of " Allen's Naturalists' Library," 

 and forms part of the section devoted to Entomology, a subject 

 entrusted to Mr. VV. F. Kirby. The present volume refers to 

 thirteen families of moths, of which the Sphingidse, Bombycidse, 

 Saturniidse, and Lasiocampidse are perhaps the most generally 

 known to most readers. Many of the more important genera 

 and species are described from all parts of the world — a special 

 and fuller treatment being accorded to our British species — * 

 and the coloured plates, of which there are no fewer than thirty- 

 one, contain representations of some species not before figured, 

 and others of great rarity. But useful and interesting as these 

 features are, this book will be more often consulted for an excel- 

 lent essay " On the Systems of Classification of Moths," and a 

 still more important " Sketch of the Literature of Lepidoptera." 

 Mr. Kirby is well known as one of the best entomological biblio- 

 graphers of the day, and therefore in these articles we find a most 

 accurate condensation of literary information which an amateur will 

 find instructive, and a specialist interesting reading. 



The first essay, devoted to a retrospect of the principal systems 

 proposed for the classification of moths, commences with that of 

 Linnasus in 1758, and terminates with that of Dr. Packard in 1895. 

 A survey, or rather a study, of these propositions, made in a 



