290 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



Two other exami^les are Othnlus and Eupleurida^ United States 

 genera, which are respectively equivalent to Elacatis and Ischalia^ 

 found in Borneo. Our native genera Eurygenius and Toposcopus 

 are represented by scarcely different forms in Australia. All these 

 belong to the second series {Heteromera), and the number of exam- 

 ples might be greatly increased with less labor on my part than 

 patience on yours. 



A single example from the Rhyncbophora, and I -will pass to an- 

 other subject. 



On the sea-coast of California, extending to Alaska, is a very 

 anomalous insect, whose affinities are difficult to discern, called E'tn- 

 2)hyastes fucicola, from its occurrence under the sea-weed cast up by 

 the waves. It is represented in Australia by several species of a 

 nearly allied genus, A2)hela, found in similar situations. 



In all entomological investigations relating to geographical distri- 

 bution, we are greatly embarrassed by the multitude of species, and by 

 the vague and opinionative genera founded upon characters of small 

 importance. The Coleoptera alone, thus far described, amount to 

 over 60,000 so-called species, and there are from 80,000 to 100,000 in 

 collections. Under these circumstances it is quite impossible for one 

 person to command either the time or the material to master the 

 whole subject, and, from the laudable zeal of collectors to make known 

 what they suppose to be new objects, an immense amount of synonymy 

 must result. Thus in the great " Catalogus Coleopterorum " of Gem- 

 minger and Harold, a permanent record of the untiring industry of 

 those two excellent entomologists, species of the genus Trechiciis, 

 founded by me upon a small North American insect, are mentioned 

 under live generic names, only one of which, is recognized as a syno- 

 nym of another. These generic headings appear in such remote paged 

 of the volume as 135, 146, and 289. 



The two closely-allied genera of Rhynchojihora mentioned above 

 are separated by no less than 168 pages. 



It is therefore plain that, before much progress can be made in 

 the line of research which I have proposed to you, whereby we may 

 recover important fragments of the past history of the earth, ento- 

 mology must be studied in a somewhat different manner from that 

 now adopted. The necessity is every day more apparent that de- 

 scriptions of heterogeneous material are rather obstructive than bene- 

 ficial to science, except in the case of extraordinary forms likely to 

 give information concerning geographical disti-ibution or classifica- 

 tion. Large typical collections affording abundant material for com- 

 parison, for the approximation of allied forms, and the elimination of 

 doubtful ones, must be accumulated, and, in the case of such perish- 

 able objects as those we are now dealing with, must be placed where 

 they can have the protecting influences both of climate and personal 

 care. 



