4 PREFACE 
TU Sent aa iat vine ees. Seed Oe SS ke 
Longstaff (13-15) contain the record of observations— 
chiefly bionomic—on insects met with in various parts of 
the world. 
The succeeding seven memoirs, by Mr. R. Shelford 
(16-22), contain important contributions to the systematics, 
and, in the case of no. 22, to the natural history of the 
Blattidae. 
The memoir (23), by Dr. J. L. Hancock of Chicago, is 
a valuable account of a large part of the Oxford material 
belonging to an obscure and difficult group of Acrzdidae 
(‘ grasshoppers ’)- 
The succeeding three papers, by Mr. R. Shelford (24), 
and Commander J. J. Walker (25 and 26), deal with Coleo- 
ptera. Commander Walker’s list of beetles observed 
in the Oxford district from 1819 to 1907, will be of great 
value in stimulating and assisting the study of this group 
of insects. 
A long series of brief communications published in the 
‘Proceedings of the Entomological Society of London’ was 
a marked feature of the fifth volume of Hope Reports. 
Although far shorter than on the last occasion, when the 
volume covered a much longer period, the list of such 
communications in the book now issued is of considerable 
length. The subjects treated are chiefly bionomic, and it 
is unnecessary to do more than refer the reader to the 
descriptive titles printed under nos. 27-29 in the Contents. 
A detailed account of the progress of the Hope Depart- 
ment during 1906 and 1907 will be found in the Hope 
Professor's Reports (30 and 31). 
