Spiderland. By Rose Haig Thomas. (Printed for the author at
the Chiswick Press. 2s. 6d.)—This is a little book of tales for children relating to various spiders, frogs, insects, and plants, under such titles as "The Tree-Frogs," "The Impertinent Ear- wig and the Garrulous Green Fly," " Thomisa Cibrina, the Robber- Mother," "Hymen, the Worker Ant," &c. The book is written in a very pleasing style, and we cannot praise it more highly than by saying that it reminds us partly of Acheta Domestica's ' "Episodes of Insect Life" and partly of Mrs. Gatty's "Parables from Nature," though it is adapted to the comprehension of younger children than the other books are intended for.— Insect Lives, as Told by Themselves. By Edward Simpson. With 23 Illustrations. (R.T.S. is. 6d.)—This is a somewhat similar book to the last, and contains nineteen chapters under such titles as " A Devoted Parent" (the earwig), "Life in a Potato Planta- tion" (the death's-head hawkmoth), "A Tale from a Tub" (common gnat), &c. Except that the narratives are placed in the mouths of the insects themselves, there is nothing to dis- tinguish this book from any other popularly written work on the same subjects. It may be useful to those who feel an in- terest in insect habits already, but we doubt if it will attract casual readers. Nor is it quite free from slight errors, such as the statement that ants reduce the damage done by aphides, and the absurd (though not original) derivation of " earwig " from "earwing." That such a popular name as "earwing " should have been applied to an insect which (as correctly stated by our author) hardly ever displays its wings, may safely be said to be almost impossible, besides which it is known for a fact that the insect does occasionally enter the human ear.
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