PREFMCE, 



Although there are many Keys to particular orders, and to particular families, 

 there is no Key published, which, in a single volume, starts the young Entomol- 

 ogist on the way to use these specific synopses, and if a student does not 

 know whether his specimen belongs to the Carabidse or to the Cieindelidae, 

 of what use to him is a Key to either of those families ? 



It is to bridge over this chasm, and to place him in a position to use the 

 particular Keys, that this work has been prepared. 



N. M. E, 



Chicago, September, 1888. 



HOAnZ TO USE THE KEY, 



If your specimen goes under A proceed to a, then to b, and so on. It it 

 does not go under A, try it under AA or AAA. If it answers to either of 

 these proceed with the next letter under them, as before, and whenever it does 

 not answer to one letter go to the double, triple, etc., of the letter until you find 

 one that it fits. 



