352 SHarp—On New Zealand Coleoptera. 
The successful collecting of beetles and other insects is by no means so easy a 
matter as those who have not tried it may be inclined to believe; and for the 
procuring of the rarer and more retiring species, experience, perseverance, skill, 
and even hard work, are required, so that it is only just that we should acknow- 
ledge the obligations of science to those who, by their labours in the field, render 
possible the investigations of the study and laboratory. 
In the Paper I now lay before the Society about one hundred and forty 
additional species are described; and I have also proposed a considerable number 
of genera, and new generic names, as a preliminary considered essential to classi- 
fication and investigation. 
Although the catalogue of New Zealand Coleoptera is now of considerable 
extent, yet it is, even as regards number of species, still very incomplete; and on 
consideration of such data as I possess enabling me to form an opinion on the 
point, I estimate that New Zealand will be found to possess somewhere between 
three thousand and three thousand five hundred species of Coleoptera. 
The study and classification of such a large number of organized beings of 
complex and minutely perfected structure, and often of very minute size, is, it 
will be admitted by all, by no means an easy matter, and must demand much 
time before anything like final results can be obtained. From this point of view 
the New Zealand catalogue is very far from being in a satisfactory state; a large 
number of species have been described and placed in genera to which they have 
no claim to belong, and hence a revision is urgently needed of the various families 
and groups, so as to bring order where at present disorder prevails. Of course 
this can only be done by examination of the creatures in question, and a very 
large number of those described are unknown in Europe, so that we cannot do 
very much at present to help the colonists in this respect. I have, however, 
previously revised—though in a very imperfect manner—a few of the groups, and 
in the present Paper I have given the results of a scrutiny I have made of such 
Pterostichini and Otiorhynchini as are at my disposal. 
Under these circumstances, it is plain that anything that may be said as to 
the nature of the fauna and its affinities with those of other countries cannot 
be of much importance, and with this premise I will make a few remarks on 
these points. 
It has now been ascertained that New Zealand possesses a coleopterous fauna 
analogous to that of Europe and other continental regions of the world in extent 
and complexness. The species when examined show similar structures exhibiting 
analogous gradations and cross affinities; but I think the New Zealand insects 
possess a larger proportion of forms in which the structures are—if I may be 
permitted the expression—comparatively little evoluted, or less perfect. And in 
brilliancy of colour I think the New Zealand beetles are certainly very deficient. 
Cetoniade and Buprestidz are the most brilliantly coloured of beetles, and of the 
