ie 
have extended Vander Linden’s application of sculpture to 
all the species, and I find it the safest guide to their true 
determination. The custom has been hitherto to describe 
the varieties of colour as alphabetical varieties of the species 
-—this plan is extensively adopted by St. Fargeau—but I 
find it produce less confusion, when very variable, to indi- 
cate its latitude in a parenthesis than particularly to describe 
every distinction, for in those species liable to vary we shall 
seldom find two that perfectly agree, it consequently tends 
to engender doubt in the minds of those who have not seen 
multitudes of individuals as to their specific identity. This 
plan I have adopted throughout the following work, unless 
the variations were very marked and very constant, and 
consequently probably the effect of locality or other influ- 
ences. After the above named writers, we may instance 
Christ, Spinola, Rossi and Illiger, as perhaps the most 
satisfactory describers of species. None could surpass 
Linné and Fabricius, were they not so brief, which, although 
sufficing for the paucity of their materials, makes the 
majority of their species doubtful now that collections have 
so much accumulated. Olivier is also admirable in detect- 
ing the errors of his predecessors, and his laborious works 
must ever remain monuments to his memory, perseverance, 
and assiduity. All the authors named above will be found 
more or less useful; it would be as idle to repeat the list as 
it would be invidious to give further preference. 
It would not be in place, nor can I be expected to enter 
into an elaborate history of this tribe in a book devoted 
merely to the description of British genera and species. 
Without an extensive reference to foreign forms, it would 
be absurd to attempt it, and as the majority of British En- 
tomologists are barely interested in them, and as it would 
besides occupy much space, I reserve my notes upon the 
