REVIEWS. 
105 
very discrepant and boldly original views which Lepelletier St. Fargeau 
has more lately proposed appear to have gained few converts. But still 
after that, much remained, which could hardly be accomplished by a work 
produced at a time when war had almost wholly interrupted the communica¬ 
tions with the Continent, then, at the best, and for long after, tardy and pre¬ 
carious in matters of literature—produced, too, from materials nearly limited 
to his private collections and observations, made in the leisure hours of a life 
consecrated then, as it was afterwards, for a period exceeding the average 
duration of human life, to the duties of the ministry in a country parish. 
Kirby himself was aware of many imperfections in his own work. Of the 
last of his groups he has remarked—“ I know no family of which it is more 
difficult to distinguish the species than the present, for there is little differ¬ 
ence in the form of the Bombinatrices , and the hue of them bodies, at least 
of all our English ones, is the same, so that the describer must rely almost 
solely upon the colour of their hirsuties for his characters, and this is so 
subject to vary, even in the same individual in different periods of its 
existence, that it is not safe to depend upon it, but under particular 
restrictions. An insect recently disclosed, in this respect appears a different 
species from the same where it has long been exposed to wind and 
weather.” And again—“ But this is not all the difficulty with which the 
describer has to struggle; the males, in general, resemble the females 
sufficiently to be known as such, but there are several so unlike 
them, as to be easily mistaken for different species; and I am by 
no means certain that I have not, in more instances than one, described 
the sexes under different names ; till all can be traced to their nidi this is 
not easy to be avoided.”* Such instances as are here anticipated have 
afforded scope accordingly for correction by further observation. Large 
additions, too, have accrued to the list of indigenous species through the 
industry of collectors, during the fifty years, and upwards, that have passed 
since Kirby wrote. And while collections have increased and multiplied 
at home, the growing facilities of communication with the Continent, and 
the interchange by traffic of scientific publications, have tended to dis¬ 
seminate the literature of the science, and to harmonize the nomenclature. 
Mr. Smith has availed himself with judgment and ability of these advan¬ 
tages, for the production of a volume which may be considered a necessary 
supplement to those of Kirby. It might seem, at first sight, that little 
had been added, in respect of numbers, since the commencement of this 
century; two hundred and twenty-one species having been given by 
* Monographia Apam Anglise I. 207, 208. 
