OF WASHINGTON. 209 



moves on slowly. He has arranged the Cicadidtz and Fulgoridce, 

 and these giants of the order make a most beautiful display ; 

 some of the tropical forms being really superb. The collection 

 contains over 600 species of Cicadas. 



On the opposite side of the room the cases begin with the 

 Coleoptera, and they take up more room than the Lepidoptera. 

 They are entirely under the care of Dr. Kolbe, are well arranged 

 and determined, and in the number of the species lead all the 

 orders, there being over 50,000 species. The most attractive 

 were the longicorns, in which the collection is exceedingly rich. 

 Dr. Horn had recently added to the collection by donating a 

 large series of his types. 



Next to the Coleoptera are the Neuroptera, and as this was 

 the first large collection of this order I had ever seen, it was 

 particularly attractive, the African forms being especially fine 

 and showy. It is inexplicable why we have so few students of 

 this order in America. 



These were followed by the Orthoptera, and to thoroughly 

 appreciate the great complexity of forms in this order one must 

 visit the Berlin Museum, where unique forms are brought to 

 gether from all parts of the world, monsters of deformity and 

 no doubt of depravity. 



All the families are well represented, especially in the Phas- 

 midce, Mantidce, Acridities, and Locustida. There are pretty 

 Katydids with ocellated hind wings, cockroaches from Africa 

 that strikingly recall the fossil trilobites, grasshoppers that look 

 as though a big spider (Gasteracantha) were being carried about 

 on their backs, and other oddities that would require a Scudder 

 or a Bruner to describe. 



It would pay any one to visit the Museum, and I regret I 

 have not a more facile pen to describe the wonderful richness 

 of the collections. 



In conclusion, I give below the number of species in the dif 

 ferent orders in the Museum as furnished to me by the custo 

 dian, Dr. Karsch : 



Lepidoptera 30,000 



Coleoptera 50,000 



Hymenoptera 25,000 



Diptera 16,000 



Orthoptera 10,000 



Hemiptera 10,000 



Myriopoda 2,000 



Arachnida 8,000 



Total 15,100 



