4 Introduction 



two columns and the omission of numbers have together increased 

 the space available by twenty to thirty percent. The first of these 

 changes will scarcely be noticed by users of the catalog. The sec- 

 ond may meet with disapproval of some, but in its defense may 

 be mentioned the substantial amount of space saved which has been 

 used for the inclusion of revisionary studies. 



The second important departure from the previous supple- 

 ments is in the matter of authorities for new synonyms, records, 

 and other changes. It has been felt that a summary of the compiler's 

 opinions on the status of species and classifications (such as the 

 original catalog properly included to some extent) was of less in- 

 terest in the supplement than an accurate reporting of what has 

 been published during the last six years and who published it. Ac- 

 cordingly nearly every new proposal is accompanied by a citation 

 to the author of that proposal. 



It has been the aim of the compiler to include all new species 

 described up to January, 1939, all synonymy proposed up to the 

 time the manuscript was completed (about September 1, 1939), 

 all new records for North America with synonyms, all contribu- 

 tions to the classification of beetles, and all revisionary studies, 

 whether of families, genera, or groups of species. 



Bibliographic references are made as in the catalog by giving 

 the author, date, and page. An indication of distribution is given. 

 Italics have been used always for synonyms, and generic synonyms 

 are in addition placed in parenthesis. Names which were proposed 

 for categories less than species are preceded by a letter denoting the 

 category assigned to them by the writer quoted. These are ar- 

 ranged in indented form to emphasize their status lower than 

 species. 



For the first time subgenera are definitely indicated as such. 

 These names are strongly indented and are printed in Roman capi- 

 tals. Space considerations prevented the insertion of the word sub- 

 genus or an abbreviation in these cases, but once the system of type 

 faces is understood, there should be no difficulty. Bold-face is used 

 always for genera, italics for synonyms, and capitals for subgenera. 

 (In the Carabidae only there have recently been proposed some names 

 for "sections" within certain subgenera. These have been printed in 

 small capitals and still more indented than the subgenera.) 



Two uses are made of the asterisk (*). Wherever there has 

 been recently published a presumably complete revision of a genus, 

 an asterisk is placed at the left hand margin immediately below 

 the generic name. Any other items which were not included in 

 the revision are separated from the latter by a row of three as- 



