Abstract
THE present instalment of Mr. Barrett's great work includes 110 species, from Hoporina croceago, Schiff., to Halix wauaria, L., and is written in the same exhaustive manner as previous volumes, giving all the information that a collector of British Lepidoptera (as such) is most likely to require. To Continental entomologists who wish to acquire an accurate knowledge of our limited insular fauna it would also prove very useful; though it is to be regretted that the bulk of the book, which may be expected to extend to nearly twenty volumes, and the unavoidable costliness of the larger edition issued with plates (which are not included in the cheap edition), must necessarily tend to restrict the sale. Those requiring it may therefore be recommended to obtain it volume by volume, or in monthly parts, as it appears, rather than to wait till the whole work is completed. We need not repeat our comments on earlier volumes, which will equally apply to the one before us; but the accounts given of the habits of the various moths discussed are always interesting, and sometimes curious; thus we learn that the rare Cerastis erythrocephala, Schiff., after its discovery in 1847, was met with occasionally till 1859, when it seems to have almost disappeared till 1872 and 1873, since when only one specimen, taken in 1894, has been found in England. The periodicity of the appearance of many species in these islands is curious, and has never been fully explained, for the causes which appear applicable to some cases will not explain others; and, moreover, uncertainty in the appearance of species seems to increase rather than to diminish. English names are not a conspicuous feature in this book, but Mr. Barrett notes that a recent writer has called Xylina conformis, Schiff., “The Conformist,” and the next species, X. lambda, Fab., “The Nonconformist”! The resemblance of species of Calocampa and Cucullia to bits of stick is commented on; in fact, certain moths and larvæ thus fill the gap in our protected fauna caused by the absence of the stick insects proper, or Phasmidæ, which are not found nearer to our shores than the South of France. Several species noted in this volume seem to be now extinct in our islands; thus, Chariclea delphinii, L., does not seem to have been taken in England since about 1815. Their place has been taken by others; for example, the northern migration of Plusia moneta, Fab., reached England in 1890, and is probably still extending. Other moths of interest are those with cannibal larvæ, such as Scopelosoma satellitia, L., Heliothis armigera, Hübn., &c. There are many other interesting observations, which we have no room to quote, in the present volume, comprising, as it does, the conclusion of the Noctuse, the Deltoidæ, and the first few species of the Geometræ. We may, however, note that the enigmatical Sarrothripa revayana, Schiff., is regarded by Mr. Barrett as a true Noctua, and is placed at the end of the Noctuae Jrifidae.
The Lepidoptera of the British Islands: a Descriptive Account of the Families, Genera and Species Indigenous to Great Britain and Ireland, their Preparatory States, Habits and Localities.
By Charles G. Barrett Vol. vi. Parts 59–70. Heterocera (Noctuina—Geometrina). Pp. 388. Plates 233–280. (London: Lovell, Reeve and Co., Ltd., 1900.)
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K., W. The Lepidoptera of the British Islands: a Descriptive Account of the Families, Genera and Species Indigenous to Great Britain and Ireland, their Preparatory States, Habits and Localities . Nature 62, 317 (1900). https://doi.org/10.1038/062317a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/062317a0