24 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



A REVIEW OF DR. WALTHER HORN'S " SYSTEMATISCHER 



INDEX DER CICINDELIDEN." 



BY H . F . W I C K H A M , IOWA CITY, IOWA. 



The above-named paper, which has lately appeared in the Deutsche 

 Entomol. Zeitschrift (1905, II, pp. 1-56;, is of the highest value to 

 American students of the Coleoptera, though in these days of minute 

 subdivision and endless creation of genera and species upon the lightest 

 pretext, it may come as a surprise to those who have consulted only our 

 American publications on the subject. It represents the views of an 

 investigator who has all ihe advantages of wide acquaintance with types 

 of the described species and with the literature of the subject. Only about 

 20 of the many forms listed were unknown to the author, whose recent 

 visit to the United States is still a pleasant memory to those fortunate 

 enough to meet him. 



Dr. Horn has made a number of changes in the hitherto accepted 

 nomenclature of the family, especially in the direction of reduction of 

 the number of generic and specific names. He recognizes as genera and 

 species only those series of forms which can be delimited by characters at 

 once weighty and constant. For aggregations of less than specific 

 value, he uses the following terms : 



1. Subspecies. Sharply defined geographical races, characcerizable 

 by features of importance. 



2. Aberrations. Local forms definable only by relatively slight charac- 

 ters (colour, pattern, size) and all striking sporadically occurring forms. 



3. Synonyms. A collective term for everything unnecessary, true 

 synonyms, feebly differentiated forms separable only by minor features of 

 colour and pattern, intergradations, and local and geographical races so 

 ill developed as to require a locality label for certain recognition. 



The Cicindelidae (in broad sense) are arranged thus : 



A. Alacosternaliae, VV. Horn. 



I. Ctenostomidse, Lac. (Pogonostoma and Ctenostoma.) 

 II. Collyrid^e, Chaud. (Colly ris and Tricondyla.) 



B. Platysternalise, W. Horn, 



HI. Theratid;«, W. Horn. (Therates.) 



IV. Cicindelidie, Lac. 



I. Eurodini, \V. Horn. Iresia, Langea, Euprosopus, 

 Eucallia, Caledonica, Dystipsidera, Nickerlea, Cale- 

 donomorpha, Prothyma, Beckerium, Eurytarsa. 



January, 1906. 



