THE 
NATURAL HISTORY REVIEW. 
JWmtei. 
Insecta Britannica. Lepidoptera Tineina. By H. T. Stainton. London: 
Lovell Beeve, Henrietta-street, Covent Garden. 1854. Price 25s. 
Ten Plates. 
This volume is the third in a series of publications put forth, under the 
immediate sanction and superintendence of the President and Council of 
the Entomological Society, with a view to producing ultimately a complete 
series of works on British Entomology; introducing all the latest disco¬ 
veries, and improvements in nomenclature, &c., up to the period of 
publication; while, in order to render them as popular and instructive as 
possible, general information on the habits and economy of the species are 
introduced as far as practicable. The present volume is devoted to the 
Tineina, one of the five groups of Microlepidoptera ; and the execution of 
the work has been entrusted to Mr. Stainton, a naturalist eminently quali¬ 
fied for the task, not only by his extensive acquaintance with the subject, 
resulting from laborious personal research, but, perhaps, no less by a 
genuine hearty love for the beautiful subject of his investigation, which 
beams out in almost every page of the book before us. He is as enthu¬ 
siastic as he is diligent, and the result is according to his deserts. 
Of all the groups of Lepidoptera, perhaps none are more interesting than 
the Tineina; and few, if any, so far from being thoroughly understood. 
The peculiarity of their forms in numerous instances, the gorgeousness of 
their colouring, the wonderful beauty of the pencilled markings on their 
wings, the fanciful and grotesque position in which many of them delight 
to stand, the variety and singularity of their transformations, all these 
and other characteristics render them uncommonly attractive; while, on 
the other hand, their minuteness, the pains taken, and the expertness 
manifested by both larvae and perfect insects in concealing themselves, or 
o 
VOL. i. 
