432 Bibliographical Notices. A Monographic Bcvision and Synopsis of the Trichoptera of the European Fauna. By Robert M'Lachlan. Parts I.-III. 8vo. London : Van Voorst. Berlin : Fricdlandcr, 1874-1875. Theee is so much of the influence of fashion in the study of ento-mology that one might almost numher upon one's fingers the natu-ralists "who devote any attention to insects not belonging to one or other of three orders. The great majority commence by collecting Lcpidoptera, and never get much furthe-; a considerable number of the rest give their minds up to Coleoptcra ; whilst a few choice spirits take up the study of certain families of Hymenopterous insects, such as the bees, wasps, sandwasps, and sawflies. But outside these bounds the entomological field finds few labourers, a 1+ hough it must be admitted that greater interest attaches to some of the other orders, at least from a philosophico-zoological point of view, than to those which are generally studied. This is especially the case with the insects belonging to the orders Orthoptera and Neuroptera, both as including the oldest known forms of the class, and as presenting peculiarities of structure and life-history which give them the highest importance in those discussions as to the classification of insects, and especially as to the possible genetic relations of those animals among themselves and with other groups of Annulosa, which, since the prevalence of theories of evolution, have acquired such prominence. The Trichoptera, regarded by Kirby, Stephens, and "Westwood as constituting a distinct order, are not perhaps in this respect of so much interest as some other divisions of the old order Neuroptera ; and although the history of their metamorphoses undoubtedly has its attractive side, the perfect insects themselves are not distinguished for their beauty, or for any striking variety of form and colouring such as might induce the ordinary collector to pay attention to them. The minuteness of the characters by which the genera and species are to be distinguished renders their study rather difficult; and doubtless this also accounts partially for the neglect with which they have generally been treated. To this neglect, however, there have been some striking excep-tions. In this country that universal genius, Dr. Leach, devoted a good deal of attention to the Trichoptera, published descriptions of some genera and species, and even projected a special work upon them, which, however, never made its appearance. Leach was followed in Britain by Stephens and Curtis, both of whom described many new forms and introduced several new generic groups. Abroad the most important early work specially devoted to the Trichoptera was Pictet's treatise on the Phryganides of Switzerland, published some forty years ago ; Kolenati in 1848 produced a revision of the genera and species of the group ; and since that date many memoirs on these insects, especially by Hagen and Brauer, have appeared in German natural-history periodicals. In England at the same time we have had one entomologist
A Monographic Revision and Synopsis of the Trichoptera of the European Fauna. By Robert M'Lachlan. Parts I.–III. 8vo. London: Van Voorst. Berlin: Friedländer, 1874–1875
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