THE 



TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 



AND 



MAGAZINE OF THE 



CEYLON AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Vol. XXXIII, COLOMBO, DECEMBER 15th, 1909, No. 6. 



Review. 



INDIAN INSECT LIFE. 



By H. Maxwell Lefroy, m.a., 



P.E.S., P.Z.S., 



Entomologist, Imperial Department of 

 Agriculture for India. 

 Calcutta : Thacker Spink & Co. 

 Price Rs. 20. 



Following shortly upon the publication 

 of his useful book on "Indian Insect 

 Pests," Mr. Lefroy has brought out a 

 bulky volume of nearly 800 pages, dealing 

 with Insect Life in India. It is a weighty 

 volume— literally as well as metaphori- 

 cally—for, owing to the loaded paper 

 upon which it is printed, it scales ap- 

 proximately eight pounds avoirdupois. 



To say that " it fills a gap " is to use 

 a very trite expression, but one that 

 is strictly true : for the want of such 

 a work has been felt by every visitor to 

 the East as soon as he begins to pay 

 attention to the innumerable interesting 

 insects that are such a feature of tropical 

 life. We have many (though far from 

 enough) monographs upon particular 

 families or groups of insects ; but these 

 are " dry as dust " to all but the speci- 

 alist, and most of them provide merely 

 technical descriptions of the species with- 

 out any account of the more interest- 



ing and equally important biological 

 side of the question. I have no- wish 

 to decry such technical work. It is of 

 the utmost importance, and opens the 

 way to the more popular treatment of 

 the subject. The popular work — in its 

 turn — leads on the enquirer to the study 

 and appreciation of the more technical 

 works. Many a time have I been asked 

 to recommend some book that would 

 give a general account of the insect 

 fauna of the country — in a manner 

 comprehensible to the uinitiated. I have 

 hitherto been compelled to reply that 

 no such book existed. This reproach 

 has now been removed and, for the 

 comparatively modest price of twenty 

 rupees, the enquirer may possess himself 

 of. a single volume that will provide 

 just the information that he requires. 

 Not that Mr, Lefroy's boot is solely of 

 a popular character. It combines, in a 

 happy manner, general popular and use- 

 ful information on insect life in India, 

 with a foundation of more technical 

 matter that will put the reader on the 

 right road to the more serious study of 

 the subject — should his interest carry 

 him in that direction. In each section 

 there are simple keys that should enable 

 the veriest tyro to place any insect in 

 its approximate position in the scheme 

 of classification. Many of the more com- 

 mon species are described, and their re- 

 cognition is further assisted by numerous 



