170 REMARKS SUGGESTED BY A POSTSCRIPT TO THE 



XXXI.— (Allotria, Westnood.) — Sect. XXIX. similis : mesotho- 

 racis parapsidum suturae et alarum nervi spurii omnino obsoleta : 

 palpi maxillares 4-, labiales 3-articulati : antenna? mart 14-, fern. 

 13-articulata? filiformes : mesothoracis scutum laevissimum gla- 

 brum, scutellum convexum rotundatum : abdomen subcompressum 

 fere globosum. Levipedes, parvae ssepe minima?, nonnunquam 

 apterse, Aphidum corpora parasitice incolentes. 



Art. XVI. — Remarks suggested by a Postscript to the 

 Fifth Volume of Stephens's " Mandibulata" By the Rev. 

 G. T. Rudd. 



TO THE EDITOR OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL MAGAZINE. 



Sir, — In a Postscript to his fifth volume of Mandibulata, 

 Mr. Stephens adverts to a comparison which he fancies is 

 made in your second volume, p. 516, "between the elaborate 

 researches of Kirby and Gyllenhal," and certain genera described 

 in his Illustrations. From the sensitive manner in which 

 he notices the remarks in the article he refers to, it is, I 

 am sorry to say, too evident he considers them made in a spirit 

 unfriendly to his work. I beg leave to disclaim any such feel- 

 ing ; but I assert my undoubted right of forming and express- 

 ing an opinion on the manner in which Mr. Stephens, or any 

 other author, executes the task he undertakes for the instruc- 

 tion of those who may purchase or study his publication. In 

 the article in question, I state, " whoever sits down to inves- 

 tigate and make out individuals of a genus, in which the 

 described species are numerous, will soon discover the unsa- 

 tisfactory progress he can attain, the uncertainty in which he 

 remains, after the most careful study of his author, as to the 

 specific types to which his several specimens are to be refer- 

 red ;" and in a note, " the genera Harpalus, Amara, Cercyon, 

 Aleochara, Sec. of the Illustrations," are cited as cases in point. 

 Without any hesitation, I repeat, that whoever sits down " to 

 make out" a species of any one of the genera here enumerated, 

 unless it be a very strongly marked one, will, after the most 

 careful study of the " Illustrations," remain uncertain as to 

 what particular species it is to be referred ; but that if the 

 same person turn to Gyllenhal's work, or to Kirby 's Mon. Ap. 

 Ang., to ascertain an insect in the orders or family treated on 



