PREFACE. 



Witli the discontinuance of the publication of Insect Life by 

 executive order in 1895, the preparation of a combination index for 

 office use was begun. The work was assigned to Mr. F. H. Chit- 

 tenden, by whom and under whose supervision it has been com- 

 pleted. It has been found so useful to entomological workers in 

 this Department that it is published in order to make it available 

 to entomologists in general. 



The basis of the General Index is naturally upon the separate 

 indices of the several volumes. Several persons, however, were 

 engaged upon these separate indices, and after the conclusion of 

 Volume III a somewhat diiferent system was introduced. As a 

 consequence it was found necessary to largely rewrite the indices 

 of Volumes I, II, and III, and many alterations have been made in 

 the course of the Avork. Valueless items, such as were formerly 

 classified by the addition of "mm," meaning "mere mention," 

 have been discarded and many omitted references have been added. 

 The nomenclature has been altered to conform Avitli the latest ac- 

 cepted opinions of specialists, and when several items refer to the 

 same subject these have been placed under one head, in order to 

 bring the Index into as small space as is consistent with clearness. 

 In its final arrangement one noticeable change has been effected, 

 which it is hoped will commend its usefulness by facilitating the 

 work of specialists and others engaged in reviewing the literature 

 of topics which may have been mentioned in Insect Life. This 

 consists in the arrangement of the different items under each sub- 

 ject, species of insect, or other catchword, according to date of 

 publication, Ijy volume and page, instead of alphabetically, as Avas 

 formerly done. 



The following 'abbreviations are used: 



Ahs., abstract; art., article; hull., bulletin; descr., description; 

 m., mention; n. g., new genus; n. sj)., new species; ref., reference; 

 rem., remarks; rep/., report; rev., review; sp., species of; spp., 

 plural do. ; var., variety. 



The abbreviation "art." appended to an item indicates that the 

 species or other subject indexed forms the text of a comprehensive 

 account or article, and the dash (-) placed between the first and last 

 page of the article denotes its length. 



"Ref." signifies that a reference is given to a work which is 

 being noticed or reviewed in which the species or other subject is 

 treated. 



