The Dictionary of Entomology

Abstract

THIS useful compilation is a glossary of the technical terms used in describing the structure of insects throughout their several stages. Within the limits which the author has imposed on himself it is likely to be of much service to students of entomology. These limits, it is true, are somewhat narrow; there is no mention of individual species of insects, or of genera or families. The orders, when given, are defined in the briefest possible manner, and frequently there is no indication of the insects comprised in them. The words “Coleoptera” and “Lepidoptera” find a place, but there is no mention of Dermaptera, Odonata, Homoptera, or Heteroptera. Hemiptera and Neuroptera are given, but beyond a bare definition there is nothing to show their content. Some of the terms used in insect bionomics might have been included without greatly adding to the bulk of the work; these are not exclusively applicable to insects, but it is in entomological literature that they are chiefly to be met with. It might also have been well to add references in the case of the less usual terms.

The Dictionary of Entomology.

By N. K. Jardine. Pp. ix + 259. (London: West, Newman and Co.) Price 6s. net.