ke 
Stephens’ Catalogue of British Insects. 127 
of itssynonymy, which bears the impression of having been throughout 
collated with the greatest care. 
Those who have not attended to the subject, and those also who are 
not acquainted with the extent of several of the collections at present in 
London, will be surprised at the announcement that very nearly ten thou- 
sand distinct races of insects are known to exist in the British Islands. 
The mass of these is contained in four orders; upwards of three thou- 
sand being Coleopterous ; the Hymenoptera exceeding two thousand in 
number; the Lepidoptera amounting nearly to two thousand ; and the 
Diptera being more than two thousand six hundred. To furnish a com- 
plete list of the whole of these is Mr. Stephens’ primary object, and this 
he has effectually done throughout the whole series, with the exception 
of a few instances among the Hymenoptera and Hemiptera, where he has 
contented himself with merely indicating the number of undescribed species 
in some of the groups, deeming it unnecessary to affix names where the 
plan of his work did not admit of his pointing out either the distinguish- 
ing marks, or even the immediate affinities of the insects. Each species 
is referred to the genus to which it belongs, the groups of modern au- 
thours having been freely and almost universally adopted. In his sub- 
division Mr. Stephens has gone beyond the writers of France and Ger- 
many, in whose works up to the time of his publication he shows himself 
thoroughly versed, and has named and indicated many new groups in 
each of the orders ; the total number of genera employed by him amount- 
ing to fourteen hundred and forty, giving on an average somewhat more 
than seven species to a genus. In indicating the synonymy of these 
groups, of the families, and of the orders, the proper plan is pursued of 
pointing out whether the correspondence between each of them and those 
of the authours quoted is partial merely, or complete, and whether the 
authour referred to has actually described the group or merely adopted 
thename of it. The synonymy of the species is also so arranged as to 
convey much information, showing at a glance whether the insect has 
been described by the authour quoted, or whether the information given 
by him respecting it is limited to an indication of some particulars re- 
lating to its locality, habits, &c. 
These useful indications and many others which give to the work a 
value far beyond that of a mere catalogue, are conveyed by marks usually 
