1901.] 79 



iiiologist lie occupied hiinsolf with tlii- Lejiklop/cru and Orlhoplera uf Eurojie and 

 the Neuroptera (especially Odonata) of the world. His first publication seems to 

 have been made in 1831 (when he was 18), and consisted of a Catalogue of the 

 insects of the environs of Liege in a local woi-k. In 1837 he published a List of 

 the Lepidoptera and Dragon-flies of Belgium, and from that date forward Ids pub- 

 lications may be said to have ilowed in a continuous stream, mainly on Odonata. 

 It is impossible to enumerate more than a few. The " Monograpliie des Libellu- 

 lidces d'Europe " (1840) was followed by an enlarged supplement, under the title 

 " Revue des Odonates d'Europe " (1850), which is still most useful. Then there 

 are the two large Monographs of " Grompliines " and " Calopterygines," and 

 Synopses of the " Groraphincs," " Calopterygines," " Agrionines," " Cordulines," 

 and (generic only) " iEschnines :" the only subfamily not touched in a synop- 

 tical way being the difficult " Libellulines." Then there are numerous local 

 faunas for Di-agon-flies, appendices to works of travel, &c., &c., and there is 

 reason to believe he has left a mass of unpublished material. About the year 1845 

 he made the acquaintance of the late Dr. Hagen (commencing a friendship which 

 lasted till the death of tlie latter), and their joint authorship is acknowledged in the 

 " Revue " and the two Monographs above quoted. Hagen also aided largely in the 

 "Synopses," &c., and there are some cases in which " Selys " is given as the 

 author of species in Kirby's " Catalogue " which should properly be attributed to 

 Hagen, for on examination it will be seen that not only did de Selys place Hagen's 

 name against the species, but stated that he liad himself never seen the insects, and 

 that the descriptions were written by Ilagen. But these are only few compared with 

 the enormous number of species first introduced by de Selys, a number (pro- 

 bably about 1000, or one half of those now known) tliat can be appreciated 

 by glancing through the pages of Kirby's useful Catalogue just mentioned. 

 Naturally " «;« homme distrait" (as he himself often used to say), it is very 

 possible that the large inci-ease in the number of workers in Odonata of late 

 somewhat disconcerted him, and this same trait caused him to affix names to all 

 specimens in his collection coi'sidercd to represent new. species, whether he described 

 them or not, the result being that in his writings he occasionally compared a species 

 to some other by name, forgetting that the latter had not been published : this same 

 distraction also occasionally caused comical contretemps in daily life. 



It was in January, 1869, that the writer first corresponded with de Selys. 

 Since that time several hundreds of letters passed between us, and if that corres- 

 pondence was somewhat less constant latterly the fault was the writer's. Moreover, 

 for many years the writer paid a visit almost annually to Belgium, either to stay 

 there, or en route in going to or returning from elsewhere. These visits usually 

 commenced with a few days' study at Lie'ge, followed by further days enfamille at 

 Waremme, which had a great charm about them ; perfect freedom from restraint, 

 unbounded hospitality, and the conversation of a delightful family, heightened by 

 occasional sallies of dry humour from our host himself. Also, in company with 

 de Selys en famille, or as jinrt of a scientific body (entomologists, botanists, &c.) 

 long excursions were made (sometimes lasting several days), and from this cause the 

 writer got to know more about odd corners of Belgmm than falls to the lot of most 

 foreigners. Notwithstanding wide difference of opinion on certain points, the 

 writer and his venerable friend were so Lies that it is impossible to avoid much of 

 a personal natui'e in this notice. 



