Reviews and Book Notices. 



123 



in the volume is that by the Rev. R. C. Wilton, on the Cliffords and Boyles 

 of Londesborough. This includes a valuable description of the opening 

 of the ^-ault, which had not been visited since 1809, with a ground plan, 

 and a transcript of the various coffin plates found there, several of which 

 throw an interesting sidelight upon the histor}^ of the family. 



Finally, mention should be made of the excellent plates of illustrations. 

 That for "instance illustrating the Romano-British fibulae (plate 3), is 

 extraordinarily clear in the details of the enamels. There is, however, 

 one point in which some improvement might be effected in subsequent vol- 

 umes. The proof reading appears to have been somewhat faulty and hurried. 

 Thus on page 74, and in the index it is difficult to recognise Hessleskew 

 under the heading Henlesken. ' Hewetson ' appears as ' Hewitson ' in 

 other places and in the index. Other errors may be mentioned, e.g., 

 ' Ach-T-ologia ' for ' Archaeologia ' ; but where the substance is so satisfactory, 

 it would be captious to lay further stress upon minor details such as these, 

 which do not materially detract from the genuine value of the volume. 



G. A. A. 



Mutation in Mosquitoes — discussion and communications : from the 

 Research Laboratory of Samuel Ellsworth Weber, Veterinarian (Lancaster, 

 Pensyh'ania, 1907). 



This is perhaps the most curiously interesting and interestingly curious 

 pamphlet which has come under our notice. If the facts warrant the con- 

 clusions which the author puts forward, then it may be said without hesi- 

 tation that here we have an epoch-making work. So far as we can judge, 

 however, they do nothing of the kind. Briefly put the author claims that 

 because on numerous occasions tv/o differently named adult forms 

 (? species), have resulted from one egg-mass, the different adult forms 

 (? ."species), being three in number, therefore, ' mutation in animal life is 

 a fact.' And that there should be no possibility of mistake as to his mean- 

 ing, he defines mutation as ' the production of more than one species, or 

 geneva (sic.) from the same egg deposition.' 



Any entomologist who has had experience in tearing minute species 

 of any order is aware of the difficulties which beset every stage. Assum- 

 ing, however, that the author was entirely successful in guarding the 

 integrity of each egg mass, it by no means follows that his co.iclusion is 

 the right one. We should be inclined to say that his results proved the 

 specific identity of three forms hitherto considered distinct, and that 

 henceforth, Culex resfuans, Theobald, and C. salinarius. Coq. must rank 

 as varietal forms of C. pipiens, L. It is somewhat surprising that this 

 conclusion did not occur to the author, seeing that he records the rearing 

 of two specimens which were intermediate between the two named forms 

 reared from the same egg-mass. The cause of this confusion of thought 

 and over-hasty assumption appears to be that he has an imperfect con- 

 ception of what a species really is. AVhen one remembers that amongst 

 the highest developed order of insects, the Coleoptera, there are some 

 genera {e.g., Cercyon Coccinella, etc.), which contain species so variable 

 that as many as seventeen different forms of the same species ha.ve at one 

 time enjoyed specific rank, it is not difficult to accept the great probability 

 of three specifically named forms in an order of much lower development, 

 and but little investigated, being varietal forms of one and the same 

 species. 



There is a certain amount of carelessness in the presentation of this 

 pamphlet which we do not like, e.g., the two totally irreconcileable defini- 

 tions of polygenesis to be found on page 7, and the introduction of parthe- 

 nogenesis or, as the author terms it, polyembryony, to explain or bolster 

 up his case. The pamphlet appears to us to add one more instance con- 

 firming the old advice that the cobbler should stick to his last. — E. G. B. 



* A. Brown & Sons, Hull, price 10/6 net. 

 1908 March i. 



