THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 219 



genus of Coleoptera can be produced after one or two weeks' study is 

 greatly mistaken, and should not be astonished that his work is 

 accepted with distrust and disfavour on the part of the working coleopter- 

 ists. But carelessness and superficiality are by no means always the 

 cause of adverse criticism. There are some contributions to systematic 

 coleopierology written with evident and painstaking care and after much 

 study, and containing many valuable observations on classification. Still 

 their value is greatly impaired by a singular defect. Excessive, and, in 

 my humble opinion, unnecessary, multiplication of genera, now the 

 fashion of the day, is no serious drawback to the study of insects. Genera 

 do not exist in nature, their erection is a mere matter of tact and 

 experience, and they can be rejected or accepted by the working 

 entomologist provided that the components of genera, viz., the species, 

 are known. The species is the unit and the element upon which our 

 classification is based, and whatever difficulty or impossibility there is in 

 the definition of the term " species " from the modern scientific stand- 

 point, there is certainly an easy explanation from the practical standpoint. 

 A species is what the consent of the most experieneed specialists 

 considers as such. I am well aware that in many instances such consent 

 cannot be obtained, yet there are comparatively few genera in our fauna 

 where there is dispute or uncertainty regarding specific limits. If this 

 appreciation of what should be considered as a species is not acquired, if 

 slight variations or individual differences are constantly mistaken for and 

 used as specific characters, this defect cannot be remedied by descriptions 

 be they ever so long, nor the use of the most powerful microscope. Even 

 the most careful and often repeated study of papers of this sort is not able 

 to dispel the clouds of doubt and the veil of uncertainty that overhang 

 and obscure all parts of the subject so treated. 



There are a few groups of Coleoptera which have never been mono- 

 graphed. With the exception of one, viz., the sub-family Aleocharinae of the 

 family Staphylinida^ they are of comparatively small extent, but all of such 

 a nature as to render their synoptic treatment a most thankless and by no 

 means inviting task. Their omission, or only partial treatment, would 

 not seriously interfere with the value of a compendium. 



The second edition of the Classification of the Coleoptera of North 

 America by Drs. Leconie and Horn shows that a compendium, such as 

 proposed by Prof. Oaborn, can be easily prepared as far down as genera 

 are concerned ; all that is needed is to make the additions and alterations 



