58 
Psyche 
[February 
Book Notice. 
The Heteroptera or True Bugs of Eastern North America by W. S. 
Blatchley. 1116 pages, 215 figures, 12 plates. 1926. The 
Nature Publishing Company, Indianapolis. 
This is another hegemonic work on American insects by 
W. S. Blatchley, to whom entomologists are already indebted 
for his previous books on the Coleoptera, Orthopetra, and Rhyn- 
chophora written in collaboration with Mr. Chas. W. Leng. 
Containing as it does, descriptions and keys to over 1200 species, 
it fills a need that was only partly supplied by the Hemiptera of 
Connecticut and is a tribute to Mr. Blatchley’s skill, knowledge 
and determination. With this manual the study of the Heterop- 
tera should be greatly accelerated, as it is now no longer necessary 
for the student, unless he is a specialist and disagrees with some 
of Mr. Blatchley’s opinions, to wade through the scattered lit- 
erature in order to identify his species. Mr. Blatchley says his 
manual “has been prepared mainly for the use of the tyro,” 
but we are all abecedarians outside of our own, usually restricted, 
fields. When the author deviates from the tracks of his pre- 
decessors, this is noted either in the text or footnotes, with rea- 
sons. In addition to the descriptions and keys, numerous notes 
deal with habits, food plants, localities, dates and general 
distribution, special attention being given to the Heteropterous 
faunas of Indiana and Florida. With the exception of some 
thirty pages devoted to external structures, general habits, 
methods of collecting, etc., the entire work is a descriptive 
catalogue of the order, a broad survey covering the entire field. 
In these days of intense specialization few entomologists become 
proficient in even the classification of a single order of insects and 
all the more credit is due Mr. Blatchley for the successful cul- 
mination of what at times, must have declined, in spite of his 
professional interest, into mere drudgery. Systematic en- 
tomology will always appear chaotic and uninspiring to the 
uninitiated until there are more works of this kind, leading into 
the wilderness of literature and opinions. 
H. B. Weiss. 
