196 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
One cannot but admire the action of Lord Crawford in 
showing what private enterprise can do for zoology, and how a 
private yacht can be made a vehicle for natural history investi- 
gation. A hundred years ago such voyages made for similar 
purposes would have brought the ‘ Valhalla’ down to us at the 
present day among the celebrated vessels of zoological discovery, 
and we can well understand what her ornithological cargo would 
then have been; even now she has added considerably to our 
knowledge, and Mr. Nicoll has made the best of some unique 
opportunities. At Easter Island, however, his time was too 
short to do much to elucidate the many anthropological problems 
which all travellers have recognized, and which still require 
solution. May Lord Crawford take his yacht there again, and 
make a longer stay ! 
The Moths of the British Isles. By RicHarp SovutH. 
F. Warne & Co. 
In this Journal for 1906 we drew attention to Mr. South’s — 
‘ Butterflies of the British Isles,’ of which the present volume 
may be considered a continuation, and comprises the families 
Sphingide to Noctuide. Since the publications of Stainton and 
Newman, once the standard and almost only reliable books on 
the subject, we have had many volumes devoted to the British 
Moths. We may mention Meyrick’s ‘Handbook,’ in which the 
classification and nomenclature were sought to be brought to 
date; then followed Barrett’s volumes, so full of the most 
delightful personal observation; while Tutt’s colossal under- 
taking, of which several volumes have appeared, may well prove 
the despair of any writer seeking to say a later word on the 
subject. Mr. South’s publication would alone be welcome for its 
wealth of illustration, mostly coloured figures, and not only of 
the perfect insects but of eggs, larve, chrysalids, and food- 
plants. The letterpress can also be accepted as reliable and 
adequate. However, a retrograde step may have been taken 
by affixing ‘“‘trivial’’ rather than scientific names to the plates ; 
such names as ‘‘ Hebrew Character,” three different kinds of 
“‘ Quaker,” &c., are more difficult to remember than the generic 
and specific names by which they are usually known. But 
