Abstract
IT is satisfactory to find that there is sufficient demand for elementary books on entomology to render necessary a new edition of Mr. Houghton's “Sketches of British Insects;” and for those who, as dwellers in the country, wish to gain some insight into the insect life around them few better books could be found. The differences between the several orders of insects and the main distinctions of the families are plainly and intelligibly set forth, though in a few instances the definition of terms and sections is somewhat faulty; thus, “Arthropod” would be more fitly translated “with jointed feet” instead of “with feet at the joints,” and the numerous exceptions are not enough insisted on, there being for instance many insects with aquatic respiration and Crustacea with aerial. In Lepidoptera the tongue is often completely absent, whilst in butterflies the forelegs are never wanting, as stated, though in certain families they are rudimentary in both sexes or in the male only, and again the two pairs of, spurs on the hind tibiæ are present in the vast majority of moths and also in many skippers. The insects selected for description are well chosen, either as being conspicuous and typical of their families or as illustrating by their peculiarities some principle of adaptation to surroundings, though in many cases the classification is not according to modern ideas; thus, the clearwings (Sesia,&c.) have no affinities with the beehawks (Hemaris), which belong to the Sphinges; and the snouts (Hypena) are Noctues not Pyrals. The account in the Introduction of the structure and metamorphoses is especially simple and clear, and the small volume is on the whole an admirable sketch of British insect life, though the coloration of the plates might have been made much less crude without adding materially to the cost of production.
Sketches of British Insects.
By Rev. W. Houghton (London: O. Newmann and Co., 1892.)
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Sketches of British Insects. Nature 46, 540 (1892). https://doi.org/10.1038/046540a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/046540a0