Notices of Books , 
[January, 
Abstract of Results of a Study of the Genera Geomys and Tho- 
rn omys, with Addenda on the Osteology of the Geomyidce 
and on the Habits of Geomys Tuza. By Dr. Elliott 
Coues, U.S. Army. Washington : Government Printing- 
Office. 
A valuable monograph of two nearly allied genera of rodents. 
It is to be regretted that the author, in his paper on the habits 
of Geomys Tuza , has retained for it the vulgar and misleading 
name of “ salamander,” by which it appears to be known in 
Florida and Georgia. The animal is very injurious, undermining 
the heaps of potatoes buried in the fields, and carrying away the 
store. 
United States Geological Survey of the Territories. A Mono- 
graph of the Geometrid Moths or Phalcenidce of the United 
States. By A. S. Packard, Jun., M.D. Washington : 
Government Printing-Office. 
We always feel the most sincere respedt for the man who has 
the courage and the wisdom to devote himself to the investiga- 
tion of some one scientific question, however apparently limited, 
with the determination to ascertain all that can be known on the 
subject. A monograph may, indeed, be a less ready way to repu- 
tation than a popular manual, or a brilliant but crude and super- 
ficial generalisation. But it is a far more valuable contribution 
to human knowledge. 
There may be persons so blinded by considerations of imme- 
diate utility, and so ignorant of the forces at work in this world 
of ours, as to sneer at the study of insedts, and to feel aghast at 
a goodly quarto devoted to an exposition of the structure, classi- 
fication, and geographical distribution of one particular class of 
moths in one sedtion of the western hemisphere. We must, 
however, remind such persons that of all our enemies in the 
animal kingdom insedts are the most formidable, — capable, in- 
deed, of making life unendurable, of destroying the crops of 
whole provinces, and of exposing nations to the horrors of 
famine. To contend with such opponents of our well-being we 
must possess a full and accurate knowledge of their strudture, 
constitution, and habits. Thus, even on the lowest utilitarian 
ground, Entomology is one of the most important of studies. 
This truth has been fully recognised in the United States, where 
fearful ravages have been committed by various insect-pests, and 
where, in consequence, both the Federal Government and the 
State legislatures have been aroused to the necessity of adtion. 
The reader, if not an entomologist, may ask what is a geo- 
metrid moth ? If he will observe caterpillars in the fields and 
