X AUTHOR S PREFACE, 



In order to be cousistent in the use of the word " type " 

 the author lias uniformly followed the principle that one 

 individual specimen, and one only, can be the type of a 

 species. 



For instance, of Forficula sjostedti, Burr, an African 

 species, the author has examined nearly 500 specimens. Now, 

 it is posssible that in future generations, some entomologist, 

 with great local knowledge, may decide that this number 

 included two distinct forms ; consequently, if every one of 

 these 500 specimens were labelled '' Type ^' and these 

 "types" were scattered through the collections and 

 museums of the world, it would have been impossible to 

 decide which was the true Forficula sjostedti. 



Again, some of de Bormans' species were based on material 

 partly in the Genoa and partly in the Vienna Museum. 

 Each Museum claims to possess the type. Every specimen, 

 in both collections, in many instances, is labelled " type.'^ 

 In such a case the author has endeavoured to identify the 

 actual individual on which the description was based, or the 

 first specimen named, and for him that has been the type. 



All the others are syntypes, which have nearly, but not 

 quite, the same value for purposes of identification. The 

 499 remaining specimens of Forficula sjostedti, for instance, 

 are syntypes. 



A further term is paratype, which is applied to a specimen 

 which has been identified authoritatively by comparison with 

 a true type. 



A paratype has therefore a little less value than a syntype, 

 and a syntype than the type, of a species. 



In the systematic part of this work, an asterisk indicates 

 that the type has been examined by the author, two asterisks 

 denoting a syntype. 



The material for this work has been derived from the 

 following sources : — 



I. The results of Leonardo Fea's travels in Burma ; 

 the collections are in the Civic Museum of Genoa ;. 

 they have been reported on by de Bormans (88) 

 and (94). 



