THE ENTOMOLOGIST’S WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER. 
119 
of tlie Alps and Pyrenees), Apate capu- 
cinus (of Central and Southern Europe), 
Lebia hamorrhoidalis and turcica (so 
prized even on the Continent), 1 Lixus 
Ascanii , Lepyrus Colon, and other spe- 
cies innumerable, known nowhere else 
within the British Isles, all, all are 
“common;” and, on one occasion, it 
has been stated (though we cannot 
vouch for this personally) that they were 
actually found ready pinned ; so let the 
Coleopterist who would turn his time to 
good account fly instantly to Shropshire, 
and hope for the best, — spes nunquam 
fallit. 
NOTICES OF BOOKS. 
An Essay on the Employment of 
Physiological Characters in the 
Classification of Animals; being 
the substance of a Paper read before 
the Greenwich Natural History Club , 
December 6, 1856. By Edward New- 
man, F.L.S., N.c. Price Is. London: 
Van Voorst. 
The object of this paper is to show 
that other considerations than those of 
structure are essential to a comprehen- 
sion of the classification of animals. 
“ Form,” says our author, “ is of necessity 
of very high importance to the naturalist ; 
it may even be regarded as one of the 
best guides to tbe end ; but it certainly 
is not the end ; that must be looked for 
in those differences of function to which 
all differences of form are but the sub- 
servient means.” We quite agree that 
the labours of the naturalist should not 
end with the investigation of form, but 
should extend to the purposes for which 
form was created and adapted, neverthe- 
less we cannot agree to the dictum that 
form is subservient to function. The 
function of a thiug can only come into 
existence after that thing is made,— mo- 
tion by steam-power can only be pro- 
duced through a steam-engine,— and so 
for “function” we would read “pur- 
pose.” But as life is only known to us 
through its manifestations ; and the form 
of living creatures is that which gives 
their characteristic feature, because we 
can only know anything of their habits, 
their relationships or the design of their 
creation, through the medium of struc- 
ture, it seems to us that form must always 
hold the first place in the classification of 
animals. Indeed, we cannot think of any 
of the functions of an animal without 
calling to mind the form of that animal, 
so subordinate is everything to that first 
condition. Why existing conditions have 
been imposed upon life, and what is the 
design of the infinite development of life, 
is quite another question, which human 
intelligence may never comprehend, and 
for which no solution is at present indi- 
cated. 
Great stress is laid throughout this 
Essay on the different modes of repro- 
duction in animals, as affording good 
grounds for defining the great divisions. 
No doubt there are these physiological 
distinctions in Nature, and though the 
idea thereof doubtless existed prior to 
the animals, and they were formed to 
carry it out, yet to us the design is only 
made manifest by form and its subse- 
quent functions, and we hesitate to give 
the weight that our author would desire 
to purely physiological characters, though 
we admit these have been too much dis- 
regarded by scientific naturalists in the 
matter of classification. 
There is much in this Essay to interest 
those entomologists who wish to know 
anything of the mysteries of existence of 
the creatures they collect, especially with 
reference to agamogenesis or the produc- 
tion of fertile eggs by single females, 
concerning which many of the most 
recent facts and reasonings are brought 
forward. 
A. 
