1931 ] 
Book Notice 
127 
BOOK NOTICE 
Guide to the Study of the Wings of Insects with 
Suggestions for the Instructor. By Professor J. C. 
Bradley. Daw, Illston & Co., 1931. 41 + 17 pages, 68 
plates. 
In recent years the venation of the wings of insects has 
come to play a large part in the classification of these inver- 
tebrates and in our understanding of their phylogeny. This 
use of the venation has been made possible largely by the 
application of a uniform terminology to the veins in the 
wings of all insects. A knowledge of the venation has con- 
sequently become an essential although troublesome part of 
the program of the entomological student. Professor Brad- 
ley's guide is designed to aid the student in his attempt to 
decipher the venation in the various orders and to under- 
stand the main lines of evolution along which the wings 
have advanced. The guide itself consists of a discussion of 
the general characteristics of the wings and the important 
features of the venation in the orders and certain repre- 
sentative families. The 68 plates, which are loose in an 
envelope, include drawings of 67 species belonging to 13 
orders; the figures are printed faintly, so that the student 
can ink the veins as he studies the wings in the laboratory. 
The booklet of suggestions for the instructor consists 
mainly of an explanation of the more difficult and perplex- 
ing features of the wings illustrated. 
The venational interpretation used in the guide is essen- 
tially that of Comstock and Needham, whose investigations 
over 30 years ago were responsible for the system of uni- 
form terminology now in general use. Professor Bradley 
has modified the portions of that system which have been 
shown by subsequent research to be incorrect: the radial 
sector of the Odonata is interpreted in accordance with the 
conclusions of Lameere, Martynov, and Tillyard; the cubi- 
tus and anal veins in the Neuroptera, which Comstock and 
Needham confused, have been correctly determined; and 
the interpretation of several details in the venation of the 
