THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 107 



quently discovered to be merely variations of one thing ; just as one 

 ignorant of the variations of Canis faviiliaris might describe a poodle, a 

 -Newfoundland, a bull-dog, etc., etc., as true species of Canis. In the 

 early times of description this was unavoidable, as the extremes of many 

 of the variable species look so unlike that it could not be known they 

 were the same till it was proved by more extensive collections and after 

 discoveries. In his lifetime Dr. Leconte eliminated many of the ones 

 made by himself and others, and Dr. Horn, in his studies, with enlarged 

 collections and more abundant opportunities, adds to this, and in sup- 

 pressing species sometimes carries the matter too far to please collectors, 

 but doubtless no further than is warranted by well ascertained specific 

 variation. 



There is another source of synonymy that practically does not differ 

 from the last, except in this, that it is made intentionally by writers who 

 are a little mixed, or have a different conception of what constitutes a 

 species from that entertained by our leading Entomologists, and the 

 authors of our lists of Coleoptera. 



And here it becomes necessary to say something about species. No 

 definition of this term as applied to organisms has ever been received as 

 entirely satisfactory, and a discussion of it here is foreign to the object of 

 this paper. For practical purposes it was necessary for naturalists to 

 have a definition of universal applicability, and that of Buffon has gener- 

 ally been accepted by most of the leading Zoologists and Botanists since 

 his time, namely : " A species is a constant succession of individuals 

 similar to and capable of reproducing each other." The believer in 

 special creation, the evolutionist, and such as hold opinions between these 

 extremes, can meet here on common ground. Coleopterists on this side 

 of the Atlantic mostly agree with it in substance, giving it expression in 

 this form: " A species is an aggregation of variable individuals which 

 have a common parentage." With this definition, except in case of 

 uniques, obviously it would be unscientific to make any individual a type. 

 This is the line to which systematists are endeavoring to bring our 

 species, and the further it is pursued, we find typical superseded by 

 normal descriptions which embrace the points of agreement of as many 

 individuals as can be examined, and reject the points of disagreement, as 

 individual or racial. 



The synonymy thus made has not been very extensive, but threatens 

 to become so through the writings of Mr. Thos. L. Casey, who, for the 



