218 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Others more competent than I His work has been taken up and con- 

 tinued in a masterly way by Dr. Horn, whose numerous contributions to 

 coleopterology during the past twenty-two years are in every respect 

 models of monographic treatment. That his work has not only advanced 

 the knowledge of North American Coleoptera more than the combined 

 work of all previous authors, but also that it has contributed largely to 

 the classification of Coleoptera in general, is universally acknovvledged, 

 and I need not dwell here on this point. But what I desire to emphasize 

 here is the eminent practical usefulness of Dr. Horn's descriptive work. 

 There are hundreds of other valuable monographs on Coleoptera and 

 other orders, not to speak of the almost CDuntless descriptions of isolated 

 genera or species. In studying these, how often is the need or necessity 

 felt, even by the most experienced and painstaking student, of examining 

 what is known as the type of the author in order to obtain clearness in 

 regard to a species or genus. In fact a considerable proportion of our 

 more recent entomological literature is filled with the discussion of types 

 and with the results of examinations of typical specimens, not only those 

 of the older, but also of recent authors. Costly journeys to places where 

 types are preserved are the order of the day, and even the finding of such 

 types in a large museum has developed into a science. It would appear, 

 indeed, as if the types were everything, and the published descriptions 

 only of secondary, or of no value whatever. Now, what I mean with 

 regard to the practical usefulness of Dr. Horn's descriptive work is that 

 here this element of uncertainty and ambiguity is eliminated. With 

 admirable acumen and tact characters of structural nature, which are 

 readily understood and unmistakable to the student are here grasped, 

 their relative importance recognized and set forth in the descriptions in a 

 concise way, so as to leave no room for doubt. The types of Dr. Horn's 

 work are not the frail and perishable specimens in his cabinet, but his 

 published descriptions, which cannot be destroyed by museum pest or 

 fire, and which have become the common property of entomological 

 science. 



The number of other American contributors to systematic coleopter- 

 ology has considerably increased since the time our Club was organized, 

 and some work of an excellent character has been produced, but also 

 some work which, for one reason or another, has not always marked a 

 real advance in the knowledge of the family or group treated. Whoever 

 thinks that a useful monograph or synopsis of a family or even of a large 



