EDITOirS PREFACE. 



By a mutual avrangemfut made with my lamented friend the late Rev. 

 Andrew Matthews, shortly before his decease, I agreed to lend him my assistance 

 in the publication of the present work. Unfortunately it was not destined that 

 he should live to see it actually in print, and at his decease his MSS., as 

 well as his most important collections of Micro-Coleoptera, passed into my 

 possession, and I have used every endeavour to fulfil my ol>ligation in regard 

 to the present work, although I fear many errors and omissions will be found 

 that would probably have been rectified had he lived to revise the work as it 

 was passing through the press. 



In the systematic and descriptive part of this monograph the author only 

 includes those sj^ecies that he had an opportunity of examining himself, and 

 for the most part contained in his own collection. This collection now forms 

 part of my museum, and I have given a list — which will be found at p. 46 and 

 \). 215 — of the species of Conjhtphiihe and Splueriidce not represented in it: 

 and have indicated, so far as I have been able, the collections in which these 

 are to be found, as a guide to anyone wishing to consult the types. 



Species only known to Mr. Matthews by description are included under the 

 various authors in the " Literature," and to these I have added some species 

 that were either overlooked by him or published since he had completed his 

 MS. ; other omissions that were discovered after this portion of the work had 

 been printed will l)e found in the Addenda. 



The general arrangement of the matter and the descriptions are entirely 

 the author's own work, and are given just as he left them, except the correction 

 of any obvious errors that were detected, and in a few cases where he had 

 left lacunne ; in filling these up I have found his copious original notes, now 

 in my possession, of great assistance. 



