2 Mr. A. Murray's Monograph of the genus Catops. 



were scattered, and the certainty of accuracy derivable from the 

 actual comparison of specimens with the types was in these 

 instances no longer attainable. It is on the faith of Mr. Water- 

 house's collection therefore that I principally depend for the 

 identity of the names with the species described by Spence, 

 where the descriptions themselves have failed me. 



From Mr. Stephens's collection now in the British Museum 

 I have in like manner endeavoured to identify the species de- 

 scribed by him, and as his specimens of Spence's species in a 

 majority of instances correspond with Mr. Waterhouse's, they so 

 far confirm the authority of that gentleman. I have further 

 had the advantage of examining the species in the Jardin des 

 Plantes ;— those of M. Lucas and of M. Chevrolat (who left the 

 whole of his large collection of Catops for months in my hands), 

 and those of M. Fairmaire, M. Javet, and other French entomolo- 

 gists. To M. Kraatz of Berlin, whose elaborate and admirable 

 revision of the European species of the genus shows the atten- 

 tion he has bestowed upon the subject, I owe especial thanks. 

 Besides favouring me with his opinion upon my ideas, he has 

 furnished me with a nearly complete series of his species, and 

 entrusted those he could not spare to me for examination, so 

 that I have in general the advantage, when speaking of any 

 view entertained by him, of knowing with certainty the iden- 

 tity of the species under discussion. In relation to the North 

 American species I beg particularly to record .my obligations to 

 Dr. Leconte of Philadelphia, Dr. Asa Fitch of Salem, and Mr. 

 Calverly of New York. To our British entomologists, Dr. 

 Power, Mr. J. T. Syme, Mr. Hislop, Rev. W. Little, Rev. Hamlet 

 Clark, Mr. Guyon, Mr. Bates, Dr. Lowe and others, I also owe 

 many thanks. They have entrusted to me the whole of their 

 species for as long a period as I chose to retain them, and the 

 whole of the gentlemen I have named have liberally placed their 

 duplicates at my disposal. I take this opportunity to tender to 

 each of them individually my best thanks for their kindness. 



With this acknowledgement of my obligations and expla- 

 nation of the sources of my information, I shall now in the first 

 place cast a rapid glance at what has been done by previous 

 authors, first in the European species and afterwards in the 

 exotic ; I shall then give detailed descriptions of all the diff^erent 

 species which have been described or have come under my notice 

 (among which will be found one or two new species), and lastly 

 conclude by giving a short dichotomous table of the characters 

 of the European species of the genus. 



The species which compose this genus were scattered by 

 ancient authors among several other genera. DeGeer placed 

 one species under Dermestes, and Geoff'roy another under Silpha. 



