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Book Notice, 



LBPIDOPTERA, 



Aplecta nebutosa var. robsoni, — While ' sugaring ' in 

 the Wakefield district last August, the only insect taken was 

 a very worn female Aplecta nebulosa : and from eggs since 

 obtained, the black variety robsoni has been bred. — B. Morley. 



Curious feeding: place of Tinea pallescentella. — In June 

 I collected some ejected pellets from under the nest of a 

 Kestrel (which ornitholigists no doubt will be glad to hear 

 reared its young in safety) in North Dene Wood, Halifax, 

 which I put away, and on opening the box about the end of 

 July, I found it to be full of Tinea pallescentella, the larvae of 

 which had been feeding in them. The pellets were all com- 

 posed of fur. — H. Hope, Ken Cottage, Halifax, February 24th, 

 1908. 



■ 



The Moths of the British Isles, by Richard South, F.E.S. (Way- 

 side and Woodland Series). F. Warne & Co., 1907. Price 7s. 6d. 



This is a * Companion ' book to the same author's ' Butterflies of the 

 British Isles,' which we noticed in this journal in August 1906, and what 

 we wrote about that book refers also largely to the one before us. At 

 the price, it is truly a wonderful production, containing as it does 670 

 coloured figures of the British moths from the Sphingidae to the Noctuae, 

 though this last family is not yet completed ; whilst there are in addition, 

 sixty-three plates in black and white, of figures representing the eggs, 

 larvae, and pupae. The figures of the moths are by the three-colour 

 process, and we have rarely seen so many coloured figures where so little 

 fault could be found. The very common fault of making the figures too 

 highly coloured and consequently showy is here avoided, and for the most 

 part the merest beginner will be able to determine his or her captures 

 without reference to the descriptions. In some cases, however, only 

 indifferent specimens have apparently been used for copying, which is 

 unfortunate As an instance, the figure of A gratis ashworthii gives no 

 idea of the exquisite colour and shading of the moth when perfectly fresh, 

 and the same may be said of some of the others. 



We are, too, greatly surprised that the author should have used the 

 so-called English names only to the plates. There seems to be no reason 

 for this, as even the smallest schoolboy never uses them, and to most — 

 we might safely say all lepidopterists — they will be more ' latin ' than the 

 scientific names themselves, for anyone who does not recognize the species 

 at once from the plate, will certainly have to look to the headings of the 

 descriptions to discover what species is intended. As an illustration of 

 tlie inconvenience of these English names, it may be mentioned that in 

 the book the ' Muslin ' moth stands for the two widely separated species 

 Diaphora mendica and Nudaria mundana. 



Notwithstanding these defects, we can honestly give the book the very 

 highest praise, and when the remaining volume is completed, any tyro 

 ought to be in a position to recognize his captures among the macros 

 without the least difficulty. We are kindly permitted to reproduce one of 

 the coloured plates (sec plate ix.). — G.T.P, 



Naturalist, 



