Vlll PREFACE. 



even an approximate Coleopterous fauna of the whole archi- 

 pelago. It was at this juncture that my friend Dr. Crotch, 

 with time and energy at his disposal, professed himself ready 

 to be enlisted in a good cause, and to essay the difficult task 

 of exploring Gomera more thoroughly. Consequently in the 

 spring of 1862, having procured a tent and the necessary 

 appendages, he set sail for the islands ; and after a few 

 months' residence, chiefly in Gomera but partly in Teneriife, 

 he brought back a noble memento of his labours not only 

 in an abundance of careful observations and most extensive 

 material, but by his having added no less than 44 actual 

 novelties to the entire Canarian list. With this great and 

 valuable accession, therefore, from the exact department 

 of the Group whence it was most needed, I felt myself better 

 able to undertake my ' Catalogue of the Canarian Coleoptera ; ' 

 and it was accordingly published in June of 1864. 



I have been induced to go thus at length into the history 

 of the material from which my recent Canarian Catalogue 

 was compiled, in order to show more clearly the exact posi- 

 tion in which I now stand with respect to the data which 

 have accumulated since its appearance. Whilst its sheets 

 were passing through the press, Dr. Crotch, accompanied this 

 time by his brother Mr. G. R. Crotch (so justly celebrated 

 as one of our most accomplished Coleopterists), was preparing 

 for a second trip to the Canaries with the intention of re- 

 visiting Gomera, and of exploring likewise the still more 

 distant island of Hierro. It would have been useless for me 

 to think of postponing my volume until their return ; for it 

 was already nearly in type, and moreover, having been 

 undertaken for the Trustees of the British Museum, I was 

 not at liberty to suspend its progress. But, true to their 

 arrangements, the Messrs. Crotch divided the summer of 



