204 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [September, 



the pleasure to send you the numbers as they appear The de- 

 scriptions you will find are very brief, perhaps too much so, 

 although accompanied by figures I shall alter the plan some- 

 what for the future numbers Great obscurity has crept into 

 Natural History in consequence of a mistaken notion, that the 

 character of an animal can be given in three or four words ; 

 you, no doubt, have had occasion to regret the brevity of de- 

 scription that has been indulged in by L,inne, Fabricius &c, & 

 will agree with me, that in man}' instances they are more 

 generic than specific, so that several distinct species can with 

 equal propriety be referred to a single trivial name ; but natural- 

 ists are now beginning to profit by their own experience of 

 the absurdity of this mode of procedure & I hope it will not 

 belong, before in our text books we shall have such characters 

 indicated, as shall be decisive 



Isoccros brunneus has been called by Latreille Parandra 

 brunea & also Parandra la-vis, has not De Geer in some part of 

 his works named it Attelabns lacvus ? this syonym I have 

 seen somewhere. It appears to have five joints to the tarsi, 

 the addition [al] one is penultimate, & it is also worthy of 

 remark that in Cncujus there is an appearance of a fifth joint 

 at the base of the tarsus ; in habit the two genera are widely 

 distinct will it not serve to connect the preceding family with 

 this, in the same degree nearly, that Ulciota {Brontes) con- 

 nects this f amity, with the Ccrambicini. 



It is with the greatest pleasure I learn your intention to 

 communicate to me some observations on some of the genera 

 of Insects, this I assure you \vill afford me the utmost satis- 

 faction & I look for them with solicitude ; 1 have made con- 

 siderable advances in a distinct work which may be entitled 

 Descriptions of the Insects of North America? this is to be with- 

 out plates, it is a work I have fixed particular attention upon, 

 but it will occupy a considerable time & will be the product 

 of much, & unremitted, labor. 



Any observations you may make to me, with which I was 

 not previously conversant, shall be most scrupulously recorded 

 & placed in that work to your credit, & all those insects you 

 have sent me, which I had not before seen, will of course be 



2 (See footnote i, page 176 of this volume. 



