504 Miscellaneous, 



the circumstances attending the journey not admitting of their collec- 

 tion and preservation. 



" An eminent man, reasoning on such data as he had, has recorded 

 his belief that it will be found that Hymenoptera do not abound in 

 Bricish North America : now it may be remarked, in making genera- 

 lizations on the distribution of animals, especially on those of the lower 

 orders, ' that, before generalizing on a collection from any place not 

 often visited or not often explored, attention be paid to the taste or 

 tastes, or, in other words, to the bias or direction of the eye, hand, 

 and mind of the person or persons who collect, supposing such rea- 

 soning is recorded as on authentic data/ 



" Mr. George Barnston, to whose researches Sir John Richardson 

 directed public attention in the 'Edinburgh New Philosophical 

 Journal' for April 1841, has published a very admirable summary 

 of the Progress of the Seasons as aifecting Animals and Vegetables 

 at Martin's Falls, Albany River, James's Bay, about lat. 51° 30' N., 

 and in long. 8G° 20' W, In this fresh and refreshing journal, there 

 are more than indications that Hymenoptera, Diptera, and Neuro- 

 ptera abound. In a year or two afterwards Mr. Barnston came to 

 London and presented his collection to the British Museum. 



" As one instance of his excellence as a collector, I may mention 

 that Mr. Walker, who named and described the species of Diptera in 

 the Cabinet of the British Museum, has alluded to or has described 

 nearly 250 species of dipterous insects from the single station 

 mentioned above ; there being only 1 4 species of these insects re- 

 corded in the ' Fauna Boreali- Americana ■ of the Rev. ¥m. Kirby. 

 Mr. Barnston' s researches, among the Neuroptera also, were consi- 

 derable and very valuable. One insect brought by him, the Pteron- 

 arcys regalis (although previously found in Canada), afforded Mr. 

 Newport a fit subject for his genius, as an accurate anatomist and re- 

 corder of facts and reasonings on the insect ceconomy. This gentle- 

 man discovered persistent branchiae in the imago or perfect state of 

 the Pteronarcys, and has recorded his discovery and quoted some ob- 

 servations of Mr. Barnston's in a paper read at the Linnsean Society. 

 As Mr. Gray's Catalogues of the collections in the British Museum 

 (mines of information to the reasoner and writer on geographical dis- 

 tribution) are published, it will be seen how valuable are Mr. Barn- 

 ston's and Sir John Richardson's collections to our acquaintance with 

 the articulated animals of British North America, especially in its 

 more northerly parts. 



" I have mentioned that Kirby describes or alludes to only thirty- 

 two species of Hymenoptera in his ' Insects of North America ;' while 

 Mr. Barnston in one spot found 192 distinct species, exclusive of 

 ChalcididcB. I subjoin a comparative list of the families of Hymen- 

 optera, the comparison being made with the British species existing 

 in the Museum collection at the time of this record. Mr. Barnston 

 and myself worked out the Tenthredinidce ; my friend and coadjutor 

 Mr. Frederick Smith, an able hymenopterist, determined the other 

 species ; so the list may be deemed as correct as the circumstances 

 will admit. 



"It must be borne in mind that our British collection of ITv- 



