NOTICE OF DR. WILH. MULLER'S WORK ON THE SOUTH AMERICAN LARVÆ OF THE NYMPHALIDÆ

Extract

Readers of The Canadian Entomologist have, no doubt, through the papers of W. H. Edwards, followed with interest the discovery of so many facts bearing on the evolution of species in the Butterflies. We have now a work by a German writer of remarkable industry and ability, on the larval peculiarities of the Nymphalidæ, which deserves the study of all interested in Lepidopterology in America. The work is adorned by four plain lithographic plates of the caterpillars and their peculiar structure, of such fineness and softness of execution that, with all my experience, I hardly know where to find their equal. The work itself is a separate part of my friend Prof. Spengel's very useful “Jahrbücher,” a zoological publication which deserves to be largely encouraged. The publication may be obtained at the office of Gustav Fischer, Jena, Germany, and this work on the Nymphalidæ costs about three dollars (11 marks). The book itself (252 pp.) is too lengthy to be adequately reviewed here. It is a minute study, throwing light on the genealogy of the family from the structure of the caterpillars, and it is conducted with an ability which is simply marvellous.