40 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Indian Insect Life ; a Manual of the Insects of the Plains (Tropi- 

 cal India). By H. Maxwell -Lkfroy, M.A., F.Z.S., &c. 

 Assisted by F. M. Howleit, B.A., &c. W. Thacker & Co. 



This massive volume marks the untiring energy of Mr. 

 Maxwell-Lefroy, the chief entomologist of the well-known Agri- 

 cultural Research Institute at Pusa, Bengal. Many beautiful 

 publications have served to illustrate some of the gorgeous 

 insects of India, but this is the first work to treat the subject 

 with any degree of completeness, so far as all orders are con- 

 cerned. The volumes devoted to the Insecta, in the series 

 relating to the "Fauna of British India," will naturally, when 

 completed, form a "last word" to date, but their complete 

 appearance will not be for some years. In this volume we must 

 not expect infallibility in the extensive field surveyed by Mr. 

 Lefroy, but we do in these pages discover the best introduction 

 to the subject, very much original information, and a distinct 

 and valuable addition to Oriental entomology. 



As regards "Instinct and Habit," the author's views appear 

 to lean to the Cartesian estimate, and as being more or less auto- 

 matic. On the subject of classification, that vexed controversy in 

 which proposals are defended as axioms by their proposers, we 

 quite agree with the remark of Mr. Lefroy, that " the most diverse 

 views prevail, and there is no standard classification that is or 

 can be universally employed, even if it be admittedly not academi- 

 cally accurate, but sufficiently so for practical purposes." If 

 this is true of taxonomy, what may not be said of some 

 theoretical conclusions ? and we are not at all surprised, nay 

 thankful, that on the subject of "Mimicry "we read: — "The 

 sincere student with a profound faith in human nature may be 

 cautioned against accepting any conclusions or facts not based on 

 observation of insects in their natural conditions ; the search for 

 explanations of insect-colouring has almost rendered the whole 

 subject ridiculous, since conclusions have been drawn from museum 

 specimens, which have no relation to the lives of insects." 



The excellent illustrations in this volume are mainly contri- 

 buted by the artist staff of the Pusa Institute, artists who are 

 natives of India, trained in art schools of that country ; in fact, 

 the whole volume is the work of, and a credit to, the press of our 

 Indian Empire. 



