FRENCH FAUNA, COLEOPTERA. 81 



opterist — -first, as it is not so strictly confined to the dichotomous method, 

 with its, apparently inevitable, occasional ambiguities ; — secondly, because 

 the territory of the Fauna agrees with Britain better, in Geographical 

 meridian and Hydrographic circumstances, — is the " Faune Entomologique 

 Francaise, Coleopteres, par MM. Fairmaire et Laboulbene," of which 

 we have lately received the third part, completing the first volume of 665 

 pages, 12mo., giving brief but clear characters of two thousand and forty 

 French species, besides many indigenous in the neighbouring countries — 

 Britain among the rest — which are considered not unlikely yet to be found 

 in France ; the whole arranged under convenient sections descending from 

 genus to species, and illustrated with ample data, in the most concise form, 

 respecting the local distribution within those limits. As a matter of course, 

 this work comprehends a far greater multitude of species than are known 

 in the British islands, and among them many southern types, not to be 

 looked for here at any time. But of the actually known British species, 

 there appear to be comparatively few not included in it. A general colla- 

 tion of the work — so far as it has been carried — with Stephens' Manual of 

 British Beetles — or, indeed, with any other complete list of the indigenous 

 species of this order, which we possess as yet — would lead to a very 

 erroneous estimate of the proportion. We have confined ourselves to the 

 comparison of a single family, one of the most extensive and most 

 thoroughly investigated, and which, of all the great families of the order, 

 has been earliest made the subject of a complete revision, subsequent to the 

 date of Stephens' Manual. 



Of the two hundred and ninety- two indigenous species of Geodephaga 

 given in Dawson's Manual, we find but twenty which are not described in 

 the Faune Francaise ; and these are mostly of very limited local range, or 

 extreme rarity ; one-third of the number being species first and recently 

 characterised by Mr. Dawson himself, all of which, perhaps, can scarcely be 

 considered as yet sufficiently " ventilated." We apprehend, too, that the 

 number not in common to both will be yet further diminished by the sup- 

 plemental additions promised ; and the authors seem disposed, as they 

 advance, to be more liberal in the indication of the probable natives of 

 France, so that the proportion of deficiencies is not likely to be increased, at 

 least, in the families to follow. 



The first volume of this Fauna of France, now published complete at 

 fifteen shillings, has those two thousand and forty species, distributed under 

 the following families: Cicindelidse 12 species, Carabidae 590, Dytiscidse 

 149, Gyrinidae 10, Hydrophilida* 88, Histridas 94, Silphidas 113, Trichop- 



