Book Reviews
Standard names for common insects of new zealand Chairman of Publishing Committee — D. N. Ferro

Published by the Entomological Society of New Zealand. Bulletin 4. 42 pp. 1977. Price $2.00. Available from Mrs B. M. May, c/o. Entomology Division, D.S.I.R., Private Bag, Auckland, New Zealand.

This list replaces an earlier ‘interim list’ issued in 1967 by the Society. It has been considerably expanded and now has about 860 entries, most of which are insects although mites, spiders, harvestmen, slugs, snails, and nematodes of economic importance are included. Standardisation of common names is, of course, the main objective of this bulletin, so that there will be no excuse for ambiguous communication between scientists and laymen where insect names are concerned. But there is more to it than that, for it provides a useful checklist of up-to-date nomenclature for the scientist and teacher. Each scientific name entry gives genus and species, author, family and order. Cross-referencing is employed for those species with recent name changes or where more than one name has been in common usage. A commendable effort has also been made to bring in Maori names where applicable — these are placed in parenthesis after the common name. Like the previous list, it is arranged in two parts, a scientific names index and a common names index.

The list is recommended to all who need to write or talk about common insects and terrestrial invertebrates and that must include a pretty wide range of New Zealand biologists.