THE BRITISH HEMIPTERA. 5 



After Messrs. Douglas and Scott had been naming their 

 specimens industriously for a year or two by the aid of these 

 works, it occurred to some of the members of the Council of 

 the Ray Society that matters were sufficiently rijDe to allow 

 of the preparation of a descriptive work on the British 

 Hemiptera ; and the result has been the volume before us, 

 which, treating only of the Hemiptera — Hetei'optera, extends 

 to 627 pages, and contains, as already stated, accurate and 

 detailed descriptions of 352 species of these insects. 



In the preface the authors state, that '* the object of the 

 present volume is to furnish British entomologists with de- 

 scriptions of the indigenous Hemiptera — Heteroptera. 

 Hitherto only a few species have been described or figured 

 by British authors, and to the consequent difficulty of naming 

 their captures may probably be attributed the indifference 

 with which this order of insects has been regarded by British 

 collectors. The collections are few and imperfect^ and either 

 only in part or incorrectly named, the national collection in 

 the British Museum being no exception." 



" The materials for the present work have been collected 

 by us in the southern counties, chiefly in the vicinity of Lon- 

 don, during four or five years of almost undivided attention 

 to the order, and we are also indebted to the liberality of a 

 few friends for species from a distance. When Hemiptera 

 shall be collected over a larger area, with the assiduity devoted 

 to Coleoptera and Lepidoptera, there cannot fail to be a large 

 addition to the number of our known species." 



" The localities given are those of which we are certain, 

 but many of the species, doubtless, exist elsewhere. The 

 terms ' common,' ' rare,' &c., have reference chiefly to the 

 southern counties of England. The time of appearance is 

 given where it is known." 



At first sight it may seem surprising that a volume treat- 



