468 JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 
distinguish them from the dead leaves among which they 
occurred. Dr. J. von Haast, to whom I sent the specimens, was 
kind enough to name them for me. W. E. BARKER. 
TRANSACTIONS OF THE NEW ZEALAND INSTITUTE.—The 
fifteenth volume, which has just been published, is a work of 
some 600 pages, illustrated by 4o plates. The majority of the 
latter are of rather rough execution, but we presume that as long 
as the sum of £500 is all that is available for the publication of 
such a bulky volume, it will be impossible to expect better results. 
The department simply cannot afford, in the majority of cases, 
to adopt any other mode of reproduction but that of photo- 
lithography, and though this mode gives absolutely faithful 
figures of the original drawings, they are also absolutely destitute 
of finish. Ifthe various affiliated societies could see their way to 
strengthen Dr. Hector’s hands, by voting additional funds to aid 
in the work of publication, better results in this direction could 
be obtained. There is rather a formidable list of addenda et 
corrigenda at the beginning of the volume, but, judging from our 
own experience, we have no hesitation in saying that it is largely 
due to the defective handwriting of the authors of the papers. 
Many writers cover their sheets with a mass of hieroglyphics, and 
then are indignant because the printer who has the misfortune to 
decipher them makes errors in setting-up their technical terms. 
Last year’s work of our Institutes shews a remarkable pre- 
dominance of zoological papers, namely, 30 out of a total 62. 
Most of the names in this section are those of former con- 
tributors, Messrs. Travers, Hutton, Parker. Arthur, Fereday, 
Chilton, and Thomson continuing their researches on the various 
groups with which they have been formerly oceupied. We are 
glad, however, to see Mr. Meyrick to the fore with an extensive 
paper on Micro-lepidoptera, and trust that the energy hitherto 
displayed by him will result in great additions to our knowledge 
of this branch of the fauna. Botany has not its usual prominence, 
Messrs. Cheeseman and Colenso being the principal contributors ; 
but papers dealing with Micro-botany are contributed by Messrs. 
Maskell and Inglis, and Drs. Spencer and Knight. Mr. Cox 
continues his valuable mineralogical papers, but Geology is 
hardly touched on in the volume. Some interesting reading is 
contained in the miscellaneous papers, which occupy the last 90 
pages. The Proceedings of the affiliated societies are more 
briefly recorded than usual. The appendix contains zuter ala 
an earthquake table, from which we note that no less than 16 
earthquakes occurred at Wellington and 5 at Christchurch, as 
against I, 2, or 3 at other stations. These numbers cannot be 
absolutely trustworthy, for while Cook’s Strait and its neigh- 
bourhood no doubt ezjoy a preeminence of earthquakes, the 
presence of skilled observers at both the above localities probably 
causes earthquakes to be recorded from them which are not 
noticed elsewhere. G. M. T. 
