178 [January, 
lection do not accord with the sections in which they are phvced, and 
as was too often the case with that author, the specific diiFerences are 
too frequently grounded on superficial, or imaginary, characters. It is 
to be regretted that Curtis has hardly given the family due importance 
in his " British Entomology." He figures only one species (plate 648), 
and the two pages of text are scarcely sufficient to give the most mode- 
rate idea of the family. An important step in advance was here made 
by the separation of certain forms in a distinct genus. After Curtis, 
more than twenty years passed without any original notice. In 1861, 
a synopsis of our species was published by Dr. Hagen in the " Ento- 
mologist's Annual," in which he endeavoui-ed to bring the Stephensian 
species within their proper limits, a task satisfactorily accomplished. 
This brief account, therefore, embodies all that has been done for 
the family in Britain. 
With respect to continental authors, Linnseus, of course, comes 
first. In his " Fauna Suecica "* and " Sy sterna " he described various 
species, including them in the genera Semerohius and Termes, in which 
he was followed by Miiller and Fabricius. In 1794, Latreille first 
separated them from Hemerobius, &c., under the generic term Psocus. 
His paper was published in the " Bulletin de la Societe Philomatique," 
which I have not been able to obtain in our libraries. In 1799, his 
descriptions, with additions, were reproduced in Coquebert's Illustra- 
tions of the insects of Fabricius, part 1, and Coquebert devotes plate 2 
to figures of the various species. These figures are exceedingly rough, 
yet in most instances recognisable, and the descriptions assist in the 
determination of the insects intended : imperfect as they are, with one 
or two exceptions, they are the only representations extant. After 
Latreille, Burmeister in his " Handbuch " (part of the division Corro- 
dentia), Zetterstedt in his " Insecta Lapponica," Eambur in the " His- 
toire des Insectes Nevropteres," and Brauer in the " Neuroptera 
Austriaca," all described the species known to them. In the present 
year (1866) Hagen has published a critical revision of the species of 
previous authors in the Stettin. Entomologische Zeitung, and a syno- 
nymic catalogue, with more exact generic divisions, in the Verhandlungen 
der zool.-bot. Vereins in Wien (" Psocinoruin synopsis synouymica "). 
Schrank, Scopoli, &c., also describe some few species. 
With respect to synonymy, the stumbling-block of all mono- 
graphers, I will remark, that as far as the Stephensian species are con- 
cerned, that here given appears to be exact, according to the results 
* The citations in this paper are always from the second edition of the " Pauna," and twelfth 
edition of the " Systeraa." 
