AMERICAN OOLEOPTERA. 93 



RKVISIO^ OF THE 4'IC;INDI<:L.1D.E 



of Boreal America. 



BY CHARLES W. LENG, B. S. 



The earliest reference to American species in the literature of this 

 family is in 1735 when Cicindela (now Tetracha) Carolina and vir- 

 giiiica were described by Linne. In 1775 Fabricius gave names to 

 marginata, sexguttata and unipunctata. In 1795 Olivier described 

 punctulata and purpurea. In 1801 Fabricius added abdominah's, nii- 

 cans, violacea and marginalis, the last being a synonym of purpurea. 



Thomas Say, in 1817, was able to recognize most of the preceding 

 names and added seven more, viz. : dorsalis, formosa, hirticolHs, pn- 

 silla, vulgaris, decemnotata and obscura, the last being now known as 

 modesta, Say's name being preoccupied. The description of species 

 by various authors increased the total number, so that in 1856 Dr. 

 Leconte recognized sixty five species in his Revision of the Cicin- 

 delidse (Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. xi, pp. 27-62, with plate), on which 

 paper the present one is largely based. In 1883, many new species 

 having been described in the interval, Prof. F. G. Schaupp published 

 a complete revision of the family (Bull. Brooklyn Ent. Soc. vi, pp. 

 73-125, with five plates), in which 114 species and varieties are 

 enumerated. To this paper also I am indebted for much help. 

 Since 1883, the most important contribution to the literature of the 

 family is the paper of Major Thomas L. Casey (Ann. Lye, 1896), in 

 which the genus Omus is treated in synoptic form and sixteen new 

 names are proposed. Other authors have added to our knowledge 

 of the family, and I have drawn freely on the writings of Dr. Walther 

 Horn, Prof. Wickham, Mr. Charles Dury, Mr. Warren Knaus and 

 Mr. H. C. Fall. 



It is a pleasure to acknowledge the assistance I have derived from 

 the published statements of these authors and, in the case of those 

 who are still living, from the liberal notes I have had from them in 

 correspondence. I am also deeply indebted to Mr. Edward Double- 

 day Harris, who has kindly read the manuscript and corrected some 

 errors, and to whom is due the credit for the differentiation of tlie 

 puzzVmg repaiida group and, in part, the differentiation ni' se.rgutfafa 

 and pair aela. In equal measure I owe much to Dr. Edwin C. Van 

 Dyke, of San Francisco, for without his assistance and his intimate 



TRANS. AM. ENT. SOC, XXVIII. (12*) MARCH, 1902. 



