JOHN LAWRENCE LE CONTE. 515 



see and to study extensive collections containing the insects of the 

 whole world, and to settle many doubtful points of synonymy. 



Soon after his return, he resumed his work with undaunted ardor, 

 in connection with his pupil and friend, Dr. George H. Horn. Now 

 began what may be called the second period of the immense work to 

 which he had pledged his life, — the full knowledge of the Coleopte- 

 rous Fauna of North America. 



The first jDeriod contains his first walks in this large field. He 

 had found indeed some good work by his predecessors ; namely, by 

 Th. Say, whose widely scattered and rare papers he collected and 

 republished. But in general very little was finished in a manner 

 suited to his purpose. He was obliged to go through the whole class 

 of Coleoptera, to study everything by himself ; and it has been justly 

 said, that he presented everything in a more improved form. The 

 work on classification and the new catalogue closed up the first 

 period. 



But during the time in which he had followed steadily his long 

 course, a large quantity of new material had been brought to light, 

 and nearly all new collections found their way to his laboratory. 

 Abroad, the knowledge of Coleoptera was very much advanced, and 

 his own views were widely enlarged. The study of the new addi- 

 tions necessitated a comparative study of the species known formerly. 

 Finally, his own papers, though they had steadily advanced, needed, 

 as he himself found, a thorough revision, in order to bring them all up 

 to the same standard. During the first period he had published 

 about a hundred papers, in the second period about half this number ; 

 but to these should be added the papers of Dr. Horn, and a few of 

 the late R. Crotch (who stayed a winter in Philadelphia), as both 

 worked on the same material, and on the same plan. It became now 

 necessary to study the very large group of the Rhynchophora, and 

 it has been well said by Dr. Horn, that " here Le Conte made one 

 of the boldest strokes of his career in the isolation of that group from 

 other Coleoptera, and by proposing a classification of them as remark- 

 able for its novelty as it was true to nature." The species of Rhyn- 

 chophora were published in 1876. 



Having completed as far as possible the studies necessary for a con- 

 tinuation of his work on the classification of the Coleoptera, it became 

 obvious that the advance of science during the last twenty years 

 demanded an entirely new work. As his health was slightly failing, 

 he associated with himself his true and most devoted friend. Dr. Horn. 

 The new work was to be equally divided, and was begun in January, 



