XIV A BIOGEAPHICAL NOTICE OF 



ferred is that by the Rev. A. Matthews, known for his researches on 

 the Trichopterygidie. " European entomologists are often impressed 

 with the idea that their scientific bretliren on the other side of the 

 Atlantic are so embarrassed with the riches of their own fauna that 

 they are comparatively unacquainted with the productions of the 

 eastern hemisphere. But such a notice indicates a very imperfect 

 comprehension of American intellect and American resources. No 

 reason can be given to prove that a species inhabiting any part of 

 the Old World should not be as well known in Philadelphia as in 

 London, Paris, or Berlin ; and much less is there any reason to sup- 

 pose that American entomologists are not, at the very least, as well 

 able to appreciate its affinities as the most erudite of their European 

 contemporaries. ... In such a state of things [favorite but anti- 

 quated systems] a revision of our systematic classification was im- 

 peratively called for; and this work has been inaugurated by the 

 recent publication of the ' Classification of the Coleoptera of North 

 America,' by Dr. LeConte and Dr. Horn.' .... the comprehensive 

 lines on which it has been constructed will include (with, it may be, 

 trifling modifications) the Coleoptera of both sides of the world. . . . 

 "The basis on which the system is founded, that of the entire exter- 

 nal skeleton, is more consonant with the general scope of systematic 

 arrangement in the higher classes of the animal kingdom, and much 

 less liable to error than the tarsal or any other system which rests 

 upon special organs alone. It is a system which only requires careful 

 study to ensure approval ; it has conferred a lasting benefit on science 

 and much honor upon its authors. To assert that it is perfect would 

 be to assert more than man can accomplish. It is at the least a long 

 step in the right direction, and opens a path which must lead to 

 further important results." (Annals and Magazine of Natural 

 History, London, September, 1883). 



An examination of Mr. Henshaw's Bibliography will show that 

 by far the greater number of the papers listed appeared in the 

 Transactions of the American Entomological Society. Unquestion- 

 ably, this was the journal in which Dr. Hoi-n took the greatest pride 

 and interest, and for many years he served upon the Publication 

 Committee having it in charge. His preference was the more marked 

 from the circumstance that since 1866 nothing from his pen, other 

 than annual reports, appears in the Proceedings of the Academy of 

 Natural Sciences, although he was Corresponding Secretary and a 

 member of the Publication and Finance Committees of this latter 



