166 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



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them, and where they are accessible to the student for comparison and 

 study. Most of these are types of Loew and Osten Sacken, or their 

 determinations. 



The remarks of the author on synonymy, nomenclature and priority, 

 seem to me to be most excellent and worthy of serious consideration. In 

 an extended discussion of the merits of the descriptions of Diptera of the 

 late Mr. Walker of the British Museum, he characterizes them as so 

 extremely superficial — descriptive rather of the specimen than of the 

 species, that in his opinion, they should be entitled to no claim for priority 

 whenever they cannot be positively identified without an examination of 

 the type specimen. Thus, of twenty-six species of Dolichopus described 

 by him, not a single one could be recognized. The question suggests 

 itself, to what extent might this rule be extended to descriptions in the 

 other orders of insects by this author, and in general, to the writings of 

 other authors. 



In considering the number of Diptera, Osten Sacken believes, that 

 rejecting those descriptions which will probably prove irrecognizable, the 

 number of described Diptera of North America, north of Mexico, will 

 hardly reach 2.500 ; that the undescribed material at present in collections, 

 if worked up, would perhaps double the number • and that when the long 

 neglected order shall have received the attention given to the Coleoptera, 

 it will equal if not exceed the latter, numerically. 



Reference at the present to studies in the Diptera, naturally suggests 

 the great loss which Dipterology has sustained in the recent death — in 

 April last — of the distinguished Prussian Dipterist, Dr. H. Loew, long 

 known as one of the most eminent cultivators of this branch of Ento- 

 mology. During the last twenty years he has been engaged in the study 

 of North American Diptera, and at the request of the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution he has prepared a series of monographs, three volumes of which 

 (Parts i., ii. and iv.) have been published by that Institution. While his 

 removal from his work at this stage of its progress, cannot but be deeply 

 deplored, there is a consolation to be found in the knowledge that it is 

 not to be wholly arrested, but that a worthy collaborator — Baron Osten 

 Sacken — remains to conduct it to a completion, we hope, of the plan 

 proposed. 



The series of DimmocKs Special Bibliograpliics, now being published 

 at Cambridge, Mass . will prove to be of eminent service to the student 

 who desires to avail himself of the literal are of our insects, so widely 



