X Y. — Coleopterological Notices. 

 VI. 



BY THOS. L. CASEY. 



Read May 20, 1S<)5. 



The fact that two entire families of North American Coleop- 

 tera, although treated monographically in the present work, are 

 composed principally of species whose names now appear for the 

 first time in the annals of scientific literature, must be regretfully 

 regarded as proving the comparatively slight amount of interest 

 evinced in this country for the S3^stematic study of entomology-. 

 The study of nature In any sphere is ennobling and broaden- 

 ing to the mind, whether it concerns elementary matter or the 

 ph^'sical forces which control the universe, the infusoria or the 

 mammals, the bacteria or those great trees which excite the ad- 

 miration of the most apathetic of us ; but, as we human beings 

 are primaril}- and essentiall3- a social animal, it is evident that in 

 a general sense the opinion of the people at large must have some 

 weight in fashioning the tastes and predilections, even of those 

 in whom the thirst for disinterested research is especially devel- 

 oped. We can account in this wa}- for the exceedingly small pro- 

 portion of scientific men who regard the study of morphological 

 entomology as worthy of ver3' serious consideration, although it 

 can scarcely be disputed that in the Insecta occur the most won- 

 derful' structures to be found in the entire domain of nature, the 

 most singular adaptations, and the most prolific sources of data 

 to be ultimatel}' utilized in attacking some of the apparently in- 

 scrutable problems of biological evolution. 



Perhaps the day may arrive some centuries hence, when the 

 world shall have become more widely and more homogeneously 

 educated, when systematic workers in the field of entomology 

 can count themselves among the candidates for honors and dis- 

 tinctions, similar to those now bestowed b}' popular favor upon 

 him who discovers out in space a tin}- point revolving about a 

 dash of light almost equally minute, or who, by mathematical 



Annals N. Y. Acad. Sci., VIII. , July, 1895.— 31. 



