Mr. R. Shelford’s Studies of the Blattidex. 457 
six of which are Linnzan species, Linnzus’ descriptions in 
full bemg prefixed to his own descriptions. Of these six 
Linnean species he records two as occurring in Russia, 
Finland and Sweden, viz. orventalis and lapponica; the 
other four correspond with the missing Linnwan types, 
viz. surinamensis, americana, nivea and oblongata. The 
coincidence is arresting, and I have looked into the 
matter more closely to see if it is something more than 
mere coincidence, In the first place we may assume 
with some degree of confidence that the two local species 
of Blattidee, lapponica and orientalis, were the first to 
attract the attention of Swedish naturalists and formed the 
nucleus of collections of these insects; consequently to find 
specimens of them in the cabinets both of Linnzeus and 
De Geer is not surprising. De Geer received, as he states 
in his book, insects from Surinam, sent to him by his 
correspondent Rolander: is it not probable that at first he 
lent these for description to his friend Linneus who he 
knew to be preparing new editions of his “Systema 
Nature,” but that when later he wrote his own work 
on entomology he kept the specimens that arrived from 
Rolander and described them himself? Thus we find in 
De Geer’s collection two common local species, ten exotic 
species, four of which were described by Linnzeus in 1758, 
six by himself in 1773. The supposition that Linnzeus 
described specimens from De Geer’s collection becomes 
almost a certainty when we read in De Geer’s description 
of Blatia oblongata (1. ¢., p. 541), “Cette petite Blatte que 
M. Rolander m’a encore envoyée de Surinam... ,” and 
on turning to the Linnzan description of the species see 
that it ends with “ Habitat in America. Rolander.” It is 
possible but not very probable that Rolander sent specimens 
of this species both to Linnzeus and to De Geer, and as a 
matter of fact Dr. Daydon Jackson tells me that Linnzeus 
somewhere laments that Rolander never gave him any- 
thing. That Linnzeus and De Geer were on the most 
friendly terms is shown by the series of fifteen letters to 
Linneus from De Geer, now in the possession of the 
Linnean Society. Dr. Daydon Jackson has also drawn 
my attention to a passage in a translation of Linneeus’ 
diary printed in Morton’s edition of Pulteney’s Linneus : 
“ Rolander collected in the islands near America a great 
many plants, which he gave to M. de Geer, Chamberlain of 
the Household, who made me a present of every one of 
