The rom^ mnumf: 



A Penny Weekly Magazine of Natural History. 



No. 135. JUNE 10th, 1882. Vol. 3. 



MY LIBRARY. 



I. 



STAINTON'S MANUAL. 



IT has been suggested lliat we sliould 

 give an occasional article descrip- 

 tive of books useful to students, and 

 in adopting the suggestion, we begin 

 with the first entomological book we 

 ever had, " A ^lanual of British But- 

 terflies and i\Ioths/^ by H. T. Stainton. 



Stainton's Manual is iiow more than 

 twenty years old, but no book has yet 

 been published on the same subject 

 tliat makes any approach to it in use- 

 fulness, either to the young student or 

 the mere collector. It seems to con- 

 tain all that is needed, but no more 

 tlian is needed; and it is a relief to 

 turn from the su])erfluous verbiage of 

 other works to the brief yet all suffi- 

 cient descriptions of this book. Its 

 excelleiicies are so many tlint we scarce- 

 ly know where to begin, but we may 

 quote from the preface, as follows : — 

 " The object of this work is to sui)ply, 

 in a small compass and for a low price, 

 the greatest possible amoaiit of infor- 

 mation likely to be useful to bt^i^iniurs 

 in the pursuit of butterflies and moths. 



For this purpose the descriptions have 

 been made from actual specimens, re- 

 gard being paid only to the most 

 prominent characters of the insects. 

 English names are given only where 

 they are in general use. To have 

 raked up all the fantastic name, by 

 which some have thought to facilitate 

 the study of ^ jMotliology made Easy,' 

 would have been to have pandered to 

 a prejudice and perpetuated a ' po})ular 

 superstition.' Those who collect in- 

 sects, and who do not wish to be utter- 

 ly isolated, must learn to call them by 

 names by which other people will know 

 them. With the view of compressing 

 information, a number of abbreviations 

 have been used, but a little patience 

 and trouble will soon enable any one 

 to interpret them with ease. At the 

 commencement of each family some 

 general observations on the habits of 

 the species and the localities they fre- 

 (juent are given, and the most abun- 

 dant species are indicated as those 

 likely to fall into the hands of the 

 voung collector." 



Stainton's Manual is in two voIuuk^s, 

 which may be had separately at Is. ()d. 



