Reviews and Book Notices, 



223 



Anthrocerides, Drepanulides, Brephides, Geometrides, Lachneides, Dimor- 

 phides, Sphing-ides, Notodontides, Nolides, DeltoideSj Noctuides, Lithosiides, 

 Hesperiides, Papilionides ! ! Fancy the appearance and use of a collection 

 arrang-ed in this order. Surely the author has done his best to mix up the 

 g-enera'in as ridiculous a' fashion as he could. To commence with the 

 minute Tinese, then introduce the Tortrices into the middle of the order 

 (between Gracilariides and Coleophoriides), _ to be followed later by 

 Hepialides and Anthrocerides ; then further on the Geometridse, with the 

 Sphing-idse midway between them and the Noctuas ; followed again by the 

 Lithsosidae, and Jiiiishifigw'xth the Butterflies. The author, we know, has of 

 late years done most of his field work abroad, and this may be the outcome 

 of his Continental studies, but if so, he may rest assured, that British 

 collectors g-enerally will not follow anything- so utterly at variance with 

 their notions. There are several inaccuracies in the text, as on page 80, 

 where it is stated that the second brood of Acidalia trigeniinata passes the 

 winter in the pupa stage. No British y^c/^/a/m winters as pupa in a wild 

 state, and even in confinement any pupse which failed to disclose the 

 imagines as second, or even third brood, in the autumn, would we feel sure 

 die months before they were due to appear in the following- year. Then at 

 page 53 it is stated that bilberry ' is possibly ' the food of Cloantha 

 solidaginis 'xn nature, whereas it has long been thoroughly known that 

 bilberry is the natural . food of the species, and is probably the only plant on 

 which it feeds in a wild state. Needless to say, these slight mistakes, 

 detract little from the value of the book : indeed, the wonder is that out of 

 some 1,200 'Hints' which it is said to contain, so few errors are to be 

 detected in it ; and we heartily congratulate the author on the completion 

 of a most useful work. — G. T. P. 



On False Education. By Frederick Hovenden. Watts & Co,^ 

 London. 3d, 



In this pamphlet the author states : — ' Probably it is not too much to say 

 that 80 per cent, of human suffering- and ^misery, in all classes of society, 

 arises from ignorance, and especially from that most terrible form of 

 ig-norance, educated ig-norance— i.e., false, education, There can be no 

 doubt that all chemical and biological (i.e., life) phenomena are physical 

 phenomena —that is to say, the gTouping- of sub-atoms, atoms, and 

 molecules; also their motions. Hence the interpreter of Nature, the 

 physicist, should be the high priest of knowledge. Unfortunatel}^, the minds 

 of physicists have been warped and stultified by the educational world,' 

 etc., etc. 'The object of this essay is to expose the absurdities of this 

 mathematical order of thought and to substitute for it a rational one.' 

 From the preceding- quotation our readers will see the object of the essay, 

 jind we must leave those interested to read it for themselves and decide for 

 themselves whether Mr. Hovenden has carried out his object. 



Uses and Wonders of Plant Hairs. By Kate E. Styan. London i 

 Bemrose & Sons. 65 ppi. with 10 plates, is. 



This little volume contains much information crowded into its 65 pages, 

 compiled evidently from several standard text books. The subject is a 

 fascinating one, and will, not only repay study by those in search of pretty 

 objects for the microscope', but also the serious botanist concerned with the 

 complicated problems of plant protection in its varied aspects. 



Part 31 of the ' Transactions of the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union' has 

 been issued, and contains the 42nd and 43rd Annual Reports of the Union, 

 a List of Members, and reprints of the Excursion Circulars from the 171st 

 'to the 185th meeting., These latter are exceedingly useful, and, bound up 

 in this the first of the new Miscellaneous Series of the Transactions, will 

 be handy for reference. The Annual Reports of the Union are also of 

 ^valiie, inasmuch as they contain an epitome of the progress in the various 

 ,b.ranehes of natural history during- the year. For this alone lio Yorkshire 

 naturalist can afford, to be without this part. It is sold by A. BrO.wh and 

 Sons, 5, Fiirringdon Avenue, at one shining. \. , 



1905 July i; 



