(1) Manual of Fruit Insects (2) Indian Forest Insects of Economic Importance: Coleoptera (3) Crop Pest Handbook for Behar and Orissa (including also Western Bengal)

Abstract

(1) STUDENTS of applied entomology all the world over remember gratefully the late Prof. M. V. Slingerland, whose writings in the Bulletins of the Cornell University of Ithaca and elsewhere, form a storehouse of information on insect life-histories and on practical means for destroying pests. And now Mr. C. R. Crosby has completed the pious task of editing a quantity of manuscript left unfinished by Slingerland when, five years ago, he was taken from us. The result of this collaboration is a handy volume in which two hundred species of orchard insects common in the United States are described and figured. In the space allotted the descriptions are necessarily brief, but many facts are conveyed in short paragraphs—thanks to a plain and effective style—while references are given to special memoirs. As might have been expected, the literature quoted is entirely American, though not a few of the insects described are common European pests on which some useful observations have been made on this side of the Atlantic. European workers, however, will be glad to have the American experience with regard to these species, and to others which are near allies of common “old-world” kinds. The few pages of “general considerations” on the structure of insects are the weak part of the book; it is disappointing to see the cuticle called a “shell” on p. 2 and a “skin” on p. 5. The concluding chapter deals with the practical use of insecticides. Illustrations comprise nearly four hundred figures, some of which are reproductions of excellent drawings, while the rest are photographs of somewhat unequal value. Indeed, examples of extremes of merit and demerit in natural history photography might be drawn from this volume.

(1) Manual of Fruit Insects.

By the late M. V. Slingerland C. R. Crosby. Pp. xvi + 503. (New York: The Macmillan Co.; London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1914.) Price 8s. 6d. net.

(2) Indian Forest Insects of Economic Importance: Coleoptera.

By E. P. Stebbing. Pp. xvi + 648 + lxii plates. (London: Printed by Eyre and Spottiswoode, Ltd.; sold by Constable and Co., Ltd., and others, 1914.) Price 15s.

(3) Crop Pest Handbook for Behar and Orissa (including also Western Bengal).

Department of Agriculture, Behar and Orissa. Pp. xxiii + Leaflets 84 + Appendices 21 + plates liv. (Calcutta: Thacker, Spink and Co., 1913.) Price 4 rupees.