The Story of Insect Life. By W. Percival Westell, F.L.S.,
M.B.O.U. With 138 Illustrations from Photographs and 8 Coloured Plates. (Robert Culloy. 5s. net.)—There is a great deal that is excellent in The Story of Insect Life, but Mr. Westell has failed to produce that much-to-be-desired book, a really popular and scientific introduction to British entomology. He writes in a chatty and exclamatory style ; he has compiled from trustworthy works and from his own observations a perfectly readable account of the many insects which are commonest in this country; and he has collected a profusion of illustrations. The eight coloured plates are admirable ; and we would gladly dispense with all the meaningless photographs of landscapes and the very poor plates of a colo-tit and a cuckoo for a few more of Mr. E. J. Bedford's coloured examples. The rest of the figures are photographs of insects. Many depict parts seen through the microscope, and are excellent and instructive. The most serious criticism we have to make concerns the absence of that strict attention to classification which is the basis of all scientific knowledge. The reader is never clearly instructed in the names of the various orders of insects or the distinctions between them. It appears that Mr. Westell himself (see p. 48) does not appreciate the difference between classes and orders. It would have been very easy also to add in all cases in brackets the Latin names of species, and so enable the young student who wishes to pursue the subject to identify the insect in more advanced books. Although not perfect, Mr. Westell's book will supply a great number of persons with a little knowledge.
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