650 . The American Naturalist. [July, 
Mallophaga, Dermaptera, Orthoptera, Physopoda, Hemiptera, Neurop- 
tera, Mecaptera, Trichoptera, Lepidoptera, Diptera, Siphonaptera, 
Coleoptera, Hymenoptera. ‘The first chapter is devoted to zoological 
classification and nomenclature, and the second to the near relatives of 
the insects—crustaceans, scorpions, spiders, mites and myriapods. In 
the third chapter appears a general discussion of the characteristics of 
the class Hexapoda, together with a table for determining the orders of 
insects. Then follow nineteen chapters, each devoted to one order of 
insects. 
The Manual must prove for many years to come the sine qua non of 
the student of American insects. The authors are to be congratulated 
upon the happy completion of so many years of earnest work, and ento- 
mological teachers will be heartily glad to be able to give a satisfactory 
answer to the query so often asked regarding a text-book for those 
desiring to take up the study of insects. The accompanying plate 
shows samples of the engravings in the book.— CLARENCE M. WEED. 
In Bird Land.*—In this little volume Mr. Keyser has recorded a 
series of observations made on the birds about Springfield, Ohio. A 
rare descriptive power combined with a warm love for the feathered 
tribes makes the writer a most delightful depicter of scenes in bird 
life. Domestic and social habits, out-of-the-ordinary conduct, their 
schemes for making a living and a -variety of other interesting bits of 
information, the result of the author’s personal gleaming in field and 
forest, at all seasons of the year, are discussed in an easy, colloquial 
style that is extremely entertaining. 
A list of birds seen in the vicinity of Springfield during the year, 
numbering 134 species is given in the appendix. 
RECENT BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS. 
Annual Report of the Curator of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Har. 
vard College to the President and Fellows of Harvard College for 1893-94. 
ARANZADI, D. T, p—E.—Fauna Americana, Madrid, 1892. 
Barnes, C. R.—On the Food of Green Plants. Extr. Botanical Gazette, Vol. 
XVIII, 1893. From the author. 
BENDIRE, C.—Description of Nests and Eggs of Some New Birds, collected on 
the Island of Aldabra, northwest of Madagascar, by Dr. W. L. Abbott. Extr, 
Proceeds. U. S. Natl. Mus., Vol. XVII. 1894. From the author. 
‘In Bird Land. By L. S. Keyser, Chicago, 1894. A. C. McClurg & Co, 
Pu blishers, 
