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Insects Injurious to Fruits ; by William Saunders. Philadelphia : Lippincott <k Co., 

 1 vol., 8vo., pp. 436. 



It is with very great pleasure that we announce to our readers the publication of 

 Mr. Saunders' admirable work on the Insects Injurious to the Fruits of North America, 

 — as the volume includes those affecting the orange, the olive and the fig, we think that 

 we may fairly apply this extended title to it. As the readers of the Canadian Entomolo- 

 gist are aware, there is no one in Canada, and very few indeed in the whole of America, 

 so competent as our esteemed Editor to produce a work of this character. It is needless 

 for us, then, to say more in praise of the work than that it is the cro^vvTiing achievement 

 of one who has devoted a large portion of his time and labour during the last twenty 

 years to the practical study of insects, and whose intimate acquaintance with fruit culture 

 in all its aspects is only surpassed by his complete knowledge of the insects, both injurious 

 and beneficial, that affect the labours of the horticulturist. The book is written clearly 

 and concisely throughout, in our author's well-known terse and vigorous style, and is so 

 free from scientific and technical terms that any fruit-grower, no matter how ignorant of 

 entomology, can readily obtain from its pages all the information that he can possibly 

 require in reference to most of the insect friends and foes of his trees and bushes. The 

 copious illustrations, moreover, are so beautifully executed and so true to nature that any 

 insect referred to can be at once identified, and the proper mode of dealing with it learnt 

 from the accompanying descriptions. But while the work is so practically valuable to 

 those who are specially interested in fruits, we can assure our entomological readers that 

 they will find the volume to be an admirable scientific compendium, containing an epitome 

 of the collective knowledge of the day, and bringing together into one convenient manual 

 the results of the researches of all the leading entomologists of America. We do not, 

 indeed, think that we are speaking too highly in praise of the work — though we admit 

 that it is saying a very great deal — when we express our opinion that Mr. Saunders' 

 volume will take rank with that standard of excellence, Harris' Injurious Insects of 

 Massachusetts, and that he has done for insects affecting fruits at the present day what 

 his justly-famed predecessor accomplished long ago for those injurious to vegetation in 

 general. 



The plan of the work, inasmuch as it is intended especially for the use of fruit- 

 growers, is the most satisfactory that could be adopted. The insects treated of are 

 grouped together under the name of the particular fruit that they affect, and are arranged 

 in order according as they attack the root, the trunk, the branches, the leaves, the fruit 

 itself. If, therefore, a gardener finds an insect of whose habits he is ignorant, and whose 

 name he has never heard, doing damage to one of his fruit-bearing trees, or bushes, or 

 vines, he has only to observe to what part of the plant the attack is directed, and then 

 he can at once turn to an illustrated account of the pest, and learn from it all its life- 

 history and what remedies he may most effectively employ for its extermination. On the 

 other hand, if an entomologist wishes to know in a condensed form what information 

 is available respecting an insect that comes within the scope of the work, he can at once 

 find what he requires by means of the carefully prepared synonymical list and complete 

 index at the end of the book. 



The volume is beautifully printed on fine paper, and neatly bound in cloth ; the 

 illustrations — 440 in number — are thoroughly well done by competent artists and en- 

 gravers. The fruits under which the various insects are grouped are twenty in number, 

 viz., the apple, pear, plum, peach, apricot and nectarine, cherry, quince, grape, raspberry, 

 blackberry, strawberry, red and white currant, black currant, gooseberry, melon, cran- 

 berry, orange, olive, and fig. As an example of the completeness of the work, we may 

 mention that no less than sixty-four different species of insects are treated of as injurious 

 to the apple alone, besides a number of beneficial parasites, and that these are made clear 

 to the ordinary reader by 145 woodcuts. 



We trust that the work will soon find its way into the hands of every intelligent 

 fruit-grower, and that fresh editions of it may continue to be called for during many years 

 to come. 



C. J. S. Bethune. 



