508 A CENTURY OF PROGRESS IN THE NATURAL SCIENCES 



large geographical areas are : A Handbook of the Dragonflies of North America, 

 by Needham and Heywood (1929); "Odonata" in Biologia Centrali- Americana 

 and Odonata of the Neotropical Region, by Calvert (1901-1908 and 1909 re- 

 spectively) ; Libellen (Odonaten) aus der Region der americanischen Kordil- 

 leren von Costarica his Catamarca, by Ris (1918); "Odonata" in Die Tierwelt 

 Mitteleuropas, by E. Schmidt (1929); The Odonata or Dragonflies of South 

 Africa, by Ris (1921), "Odonata" in Catalogue raisonnes de la faune entomolo- 

 gique ou Congo helge, by Schouteden (1934), and The Dragonflies of Southern 

 Africa, by Pinhey (1951); three volumes on Odonata by Fraser (1933-1936) in 

 Fauna of British India; Manual of the Odonata of China, by Needham (1930) ; 

 and The Dragonflies of New Guinea and Neighbouring Islands, by Lieftinck 

 (1932-1949). Bartenef has written many papers on the Russian fauna and Valle 

 on that of Finland. Another important work, summarizing almost fifty years of 

 study and rightfully belonging to the century under consideration, is The Odo- 

 nata of Canada and Alaska, by E. M. Walker, of which volume one on the 

 Zygoptera is now in press. Some recent papers on smaller, more or less isolated 

 geographic units are those of Miss Longfield for the British Isles, of Williams 

 and Zimmerman for Hawaii, of Needham and Gyger for the Philippines, and of 

 Asahina, Matsumura, and Oguma for Japan. 



For advance in the study of fossil forms from 1853 to 1953 we are indebted 

 to approximately fifty investigators, prominent among whom may be named 

 Selys, Hagen, Heer, Handlirsch, Scudder, Sellards, Cockerell, Tillyard, Fraser, 

 Kennedy, and F. M. Carpenter for their descriptive work and their phylo- 

 genetic interpretations. 



The greatest collection of Odonata in number of species is undoubtedly that 

 of the British Museum of Natural History and the largest in number of deter- 

 mined specimens is probably that of the Museum of Zoology at the University 

 of Michigan, which houses the collections of Forster, Williamson, and Kennedy. 

 There are many other large and valuable collections in museums and universi- 

 ties throughout the world, some of the best known being the Musee Royal d'His- 

 toire Naturelle de Belgique, the Museum of Comparative Zoology, the Academy 

 of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Senckenberg Museum, Deutsches Entomo- 

 logical Institut at Berlin-Dahlem, Austrian National Museum, Zoologische Insti- 

 tut at Halle, Paris Museum, U. S. National Museum, Royal Ontario Museum of 

 Zoology and Palaeontology, California Academy of Sciences, American Museum 

 of Natural History, Indian Museum at Calcutta, Museum Zoologicum of Bogor 

 and Buitenzorg Museum in Java, Australian Museum, South Australian Mu- 

 seum, and the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijhe Historic in Leiden. 



The tremendous growth in knowledge of the Odonata during the past cen- 

 tury is due not only to the early foundation on a world-wide basis by Selys and 

 to the work of zealous collectors, but to the strong friendships and cooperation 

 among the leaders who have unselfishly shared their knowledge with all who 

 sought it. Although the systematic study of Odonata stands at a high level of 

 excellence, there is need for time-saving aids in finding out what has been done. 

 A Bibliographia Odonatologica was written by Dr. Erich Schmidt but, unfor- 

 tunately, only one part of this excellent work was printed (1933). As for a 

 catalogue. Dr. F. Ris had a manuscript which he hoped to finish in 1932, but 

 death claimed him in January, 1931. In 1935, J. Cowley, F. F. Laidlaw, and 



