198 Annals Entomological Society of America [Vol. IV, 



mountain-sides and valleys, from water and land, from trees 

 and grass, or just open his bottles to stop their fall from the 

 heavens. It must be there, for the author said so; he said 

 "Nevada" and this is Nevada. 



The following is a scheme for an accessible description: 



J s . Not a new species: 



1. (a) Sex, usually d\ and dominant color; size. 



(b) Head: mouthparts, face, eyes, vertex, antennae, occiput, etc.; vestiture, 



colors, structure, etc. 



(c) Thorax: prothorax, mesothorax, metathorax, structure, vestiture, colors. 



Legs, their color, structure, vestiture and appendages; etc. 



(d) Abdomen: structure, markings, color, vestiture, appendages, etc. 



(e) Wings: color, markings, vestitute, venation, etc. 



2. (a) 9 and dominant color; size. 



(b, c, d, e) as above. Difference from o*. 



3. Summary of salient characters. Unique characters. Variation. 



4. Comparison to related species, position of species. 



5. Material: Types, identity (see nomenclature) of types, exact date and locality 



of capture. How (ethology) and by whom captured. 



Of course, this scheme cannot be strictly adhered to in the 

 different orders; it is, however, sufficiently elastic to permit the 

 changes required. What is important in one order, is negligible 

 in another. But the fundamental idea of setting forth by para- 

 graphs or captions the principal parts of a description in suc- 

 cessive order, will no doubt be understood. 



B. Redescription. — How a redescription should be formed 

 depends on the original description. If the original was care- 

 fully drawn, the other may be a summary of the first with possible 

 new points of variation, etc., discovered. Or if, as very often 

 is the case, the original was insufficient, the redescription should 

 be carefully formed; in fact, the author should aim to replace 

 the first with the second description. Even though his name 

 stand not as the sponsor of the species, the task of redescribing 

 is not a thankless one, as need hardly be explained. 



Redescriptions are also written for convenience, either as 

 summarizing the knowledge of the species, or, as indeed com- 

 mendable, to place an otherwise inaccessible description within 

 the reach of the student. Much of what has been said under 

 the preceding caption applies here also and needs no repetition. 



C. Generic description. — What is a genus? A classifica- 

 tory group of plants or animals, embracing one or more species; 

 the primary condition of binary nomenclature; a uninominal 

 used for the lowest phase of the grouping of living forms ac- 

 cepted by naturalists. 



