BibUographical Notices. 50 



Musoum about the year 1877 ; aud it is a matter for the greatest 

 regret that the species from America and Africa, which would not 

 have swilled the volume to any great extent, could not have been 

 included at the same time, so as to make it complete in itself. 



The collection was originally arranged and described, whilst still 

 in Mr. Saunders's possession, by the late Francis Walker, his descrip- 

 tions being published in the British Museum Catalogue which he 

 was tlien engaged on ; and here, as in all his other entomological 

 work, he fully exhibited his well known propensities towards 

 describing the same species over and over again and placing them 

 in the most incongruous families and genera, so as to render his 

 description entirely unintelligilile without inspection of his types. 



In this state of cliaos and almost entirely neglected by entomo- 

 logists the collection has been left till Col. Swinhoe took it in hand 

 little more than a year ago ; and it luis been his task to bring it to 

 London bit by l)it and compare it with Walker's types in the Britisli 

 iluseum and with the types of later authors, so that the correct 

 synonymy of the species might be arrived at ; this has been most 

 carefully done, and little is left to be desired in this direction. 



The not less arduous task of reducing the species to their proper 

 families and genera has also been ably carried out, though there 

 are some species still out of place ; thus Balatcm belongs to the 

 Zj'gtenidic, not the ^Egeriidic, and Boniu probably to the TiiiKge- 

 riid;e, whilst the affinities of the Epieopeinie are with the Uraniida?, 

 not the Chalcosiina\ aud Daij<i belongs to the Geometridtc, not the 

 Lithosiidie. With regard to the genera, as much has been done as 

 is well possible taking into consideration the state of utter con- 

 fusion in which the genera of tropical Heterocera are at present 

 involved, and many years must elapse before a comparative analysis 

 of the whole can reduce them to order. The drawing of the neura- 

 tion of new genera will be found useful, though that of one, 

 Chalioides, is not very correct, and in another, Flat)jzij(jcena, the 

 internal veins of the fore wing have been omitted ; Avhilst the eight 

 coloured plates will enable many of AValker's species to be identified. 

 For the species the system has beeu adopted of describing the races 

 from each different district or island as distinct, as indeed is usual, 

 though we believe that in the near future this system will be 

 entirely abandoned and all these slight races be reduced to the rank 

 of subspecies ; and not till this is done will it be possible to see at a 

 glance the value of the names in any fauuistic list or to deal with 

 the vast numbeis of insects in such a manner as to give a compre- 

 hensive and intelligible classification of the whole of them ; then 

 perhaps the 2,0u0,0UU species, at which the number of existing 

 insects has been estimated by several of the late presidents of the 

 Entomological Society, may be reduced to some 400,000, or about 

 double those at present known, which seems the only chance for 

 systematists of avoiding a general migration to the lunatic asylums 

 of the country ! G. F. Hampsox. 



