Vol. XXVli] KNTOMOr.OGICAL NEWS. 475 



so in the debated question of priority. A characteristic of the author 

 is ingrained conservatism, whence many a name newly proposed is re- 

 jected in favor of another hallowed by time or usage. Another highly 

 debatable point is his rejection of genera for which no type species can 

 be fixed under the International Rules. The trouble is the type fetich 

 is an entirely modern invention and the primitive authors did not work 

 under it at all. We are endeavoring to submit their work to retro- 

 active laws which in the end will lead to endless confusion. A policy 

 of "thorough" in this would allow many a budding genius to go down 

 to posterity as the author of untold genera. But this vast and wordy 

 topic is best left here. 



The one fault, if fault it be, of this Check List, is the manner of 

 indicating distribution, which is to my mind too rough. Where there 

 are few States, or where the habitat is in a definite limited region, it 

 should be so stated. Instead of "Can.," "E.," etc., it would have been 

 better, because more definite, to indicate distribution by the familiar 

 geographical terms "Eastern States," "Atlantic States," etc., or, prefer- 

 ably, by the recognized zoogeographical regions. 



A comparison with Oshanin's Catalogue of Palaearctic Hemiptera 

 may not be out of place. For the entire Palaearctic Region, this work 

 lists 1005 genera and 5476 species, 741 and 3564 respectively being 

 Heteroptera and 264 and 1912 Homoptera. In our more restricted area, 

 Van Duzee enumerates 698 genera and 2945 species, the Heteroptera 

 being 465 and 1469 respectively and the Homoptera 233 and 1476. It 

 might seem that much still remains to be discovered with us. Of the 

 3564 species of Heteroptera of the Palaearctic Fauna, 1078, a little over 

 30% are Miridae; Van Duzee lists only 398 out of 1469 species, or 

 about 27% of the total. On this basis, some 60 species of Miridae 

 alone still await discovery. Yet, compared with Uhler's old List, what 

 an advance has been made! Uhler listed for the whole of North 

 America only 1448 species. Thirty years later the number is greater 

 North of Mexico alone ! Banks lists only 1268 species of Heteroptera 

 for the same region in 1910. By these figures we may appreciate the 

 growth of Hemipterology in America, yet see how far we still have to 

 go to make as adequate a survey of our own fauna as there is of the 

 Old World forms. 



But whatever is open to question from any angle, Van Duzee's work 

 definitely fixes his position as the present day leader of American 

 hemipterology and as a worthy successor to the father of the science 

 in this country, Professor P. R. Uhler. 



The Xew York Entomological Society merits the thanks of all work- 

 ing entomologists for bringing out this important piece of work, and 

 it is to be congratulated on its enterprise and public spirit. J. R. DE LA 

 TOURE BUENO. 



