INTRODUCTION. 



This Volume gives an account of seven Families of Serricorn Coleoptera. The 

 Buprestidse have been dealt with by Mr. C. O. Waterhouse, the Throscidee and 

 Eucnemidse by Dr. G. H. Horn, and the Elateridse, Cebrionidae, Rhipidoceridse, and 

 Dascillidse by myself. At the end of the Volume a supplementary Appendix to the 

 Buprestidae, Throscidee, and Eucnemidse is given, contributed by Mr. Waterhouse and 

 myself. 



The total number of species enumerated for the whole of the Families is 1353, of 

 which 805 are described as new, the genera- numbering 178, with twenty-eight new. 

 Some general remarks on the Central- American Buprestidse, Throscidee, and Eucnemidae 

 are given on pp. 1, 193, and 210 respectively, and it will only be necessary to give here 

 a summary of the remaining Families, with a short analysis of the others. 



The Buprestidae is one of the larger Families of Coleoptera, the total number of 

 species for the whole world (Kerremans, 1891) being 4201, belonging to 185 genera. 

 The number of species enumerated by Mr. Waterhouse in the first part of this Volume 

 is 434, 300 of these being described as new, the number of genera being forty-eight, 

 with four new. But, since the conclusion of his work, in December 1889, no fewer 

 than fifty-four species from Mexico, and one genus, have been added by M. Kerremans 

 and the late E. Duges, and two species from the same country have been described 

 by Mr. Waterhouse. It may be remarked, however, that most of the insects 

 described by M. Kerremans were found in the refuse of imported Mexican tobacco in 

 Paris, and that their origin in every case requires corroboration (tobacco from Brazil, 

 &c. being stowed in the same building) ; and that Duges paid very little attention 

 to Mr. Waterhouse's work, hence many of his species are certain to prove synonymous 

 with others previously described. A list of these is given in the Appendix, with some 

 remarks by Mr. Waterhouse, who has also added descriptions of two others on pp. 664 

 and 666 respectively. The total number of species known from America north of 

 Mexico is about 280 (Henshaw, 1895), belonging to thirty-two genera. 



