December, 1909.] 



483 



Review. 



sometimes swarms on the fruits of 

 Schleichera trijuga as well as in the 

 burst pods of the Bombax. 



A number of more or less interesting 

 " interludes" on such subjects as "Cosmo- 

 politan Insects," " Attraction to Light," 

 " Sex," " Myrmeeopuilous Insects," " Mi- 

 gration," etcetera, are dispersed through- 

 out the different sections of the book. 



A few obvious misprints are notice- 

 able. The title of the text figure on 

 page 58 should be Stylopygia (not " Sty- 

 loygia"). On page 160 (first line of last 

 paragraph) " hemopterid " should be 

 Nemopterid. On page 322 (line 14), for 

 ' ' figs. 199, 200," read 200, 201 . The figures 

 l,d and l,e (on Plate LXII) have been 

 wrongly placed. On page 603 (line 5), 

 for "PI. LXIV," read LXIII. In the 

 explanation of Pl. LXV, fig. 6, " Micros- 

 don " should read Microdon. On page 

 653 (line 13), for " disturbed " read distri- 

 buted ; and, on page 655 (line 16), the 

 word parent has somehow been trans- 

 formed into " present. ' 



A word must be said about the Plates 

 and text figures with which the volume 

 is so profusely illustrated. Some few 

 have been taken over from the now 

 defunct "Indian Museum Notes," but 

 the majority of them are from original 

 drawings prepared expressly for this 

 publication. In the author's " Acknow- 

 ledgments," it is stated that "those 

 marked F. H. M. have been drawn by 

 Mr. Howlett. Where not otherwise 

 acknowledged, all the plates and illus- 

 trations are the work of the Artist Staff 

 of this Institute under my or Mr. 

 Howlett's direction ; it may be pointed 

 out that these artists are wholly natives 

 of India, trained in Art Schools of this 

 country ; it is needless to emphasise 

 how much the book owes to their beauti- 

 ful work as also to the enterprise of the 

 publishers, who have done the work of 

 reproducing all the illustrations in this 

 country. I wish to specially express my 

 appreciation of the work of Mr. Slater 

 of the Calcuttta Phototype Company in 

 the printing of the Colour Plates." 



The figures are not all of equal merit ; 

 but, with a very few exceptions, they 



serve their purpose sufficiently well, and 

 very many of them are quite admirable. 

 Of the coloured plates, Nop. VI, IX, XIV 

 XXXVr, XLIX, LXVI, LXV1I, LXXlf 

 and LXXV, may be specially commended 

 as beautiful examples of tricolor print- 

 ing and faithful representations of the 

 object!? portrayed. The upper part of 

 PI. XVI— r* presenting the Civindelidce— 

 is not up to the standard of most of 

 the illustrations. The figures give no 

 suggestion of the splendid metallic tints 

 of these graceful beetles. The limbs— 

 as shown— are too thick and clumsy, and 

 have an exaggerated appearance of 

 hairiness. On PI. XXVII, figure 6 is 

 represented as a typical Sphingid larva. 

 This selection is unfortunate, as— with- 

 out the definite statement in the explan- 

 ation—it would have been difficult to 

 recognise it as a Sphingid. It would 

 have been easy to choose a more charac- 

 teristic representative of the family. 



Amongst the black-and-white illus- 

 trations, it is impossible to avoid sing- 

 ling out some of Mr. Howlett's clever 

 drawings, e.g., figs. 33, 60, 76, 141 and 151, 

 in which there is a happy combination 

 of clearness, accuracy, and artistic feel- 

 ing. Special mention, also, must be 

 made of R. C. Wood's dainty tail-piece 

 at the end of the volume, in which the 

 action of the swimming toad has been 

 very cleverly caught. Of the other 

 figures, Nos. 10. 36, 131, 154, 172. 179, 196, 

 284, 285 and 380 may be cited as good 

 examples in various styles of treatment. 

 Reference has already been made to the 

 admirable reproduction on page 231. 

 Fig. 152- A. on page 267, taken over from 

 a continental author, is represented in 

 the ' negative ' style adopted (for what 

 reason I do not know) by certain special- 

 ists in Coleoptera. The insect illustrated 

 is in reality deep brown, with two 

 ochreous (or reddish) patches on the 

 elytra ; whereas, in the figure, the 

 colouration appears to be reversed, 



A useful index brings a useful volume 

 to a satisfactory conclusion. Mr. Lefroy 

 and his coadjutors must be heartily 

 congratulated upon the result of their 

 labours. 



E. ERNEST GREEN. 



