PROCEEDINGS OF THE THIRD ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 9J7 



OSnochrommcB, HemitkeimB and Sterrhi7icB {=^ Acidaliinw) and probably 

 the LarentiincB. The unwieldy sub-family " Boarmiince " I unfor- 

 tunately have not yet bo well in hand, though I have of course hosts 

 of notes and references, bo that if no one better could be found, I might 

 find myself able to do fairly well with them by the time the list was 

 required." 



Mr. H. E. Andrewes, who is working on Indian Carabidse, sends 



quite a useful note on this subject, which I will read to you. He says : — 



" Having quite recently prepared a Catalogue of Oriental Carabidse, 



I mention a few of the consideration.? which have presented themselves 



to me, as a Coleopterist, in the course of that work. 



" (1) My first idea had been to confine myself to species recorded 

 from India, Ceylon and Burma, bat I Soon found that I must abandon 

 this scheme, and before long decided to take in the whole of South Eist 

 Asia, including Japan in the North, and the entire Malay region in the 

 South. The fact is that our knowledge of the fauna of India is at present 

 BO imperfect that species described from China, Indo-China, Siam, and 

 Malay Archipelago, etc., are continually reappearing in India, so that 

 a catalogue of species recorded at present from India only would give 

 quite a false impression, and inevitably lead to the redescription of 

 known insects, and a consequent augmentation of the already super- 

 abundant synonymy. It would also Umit the opportunities for the 

 comparison of Indian species with allied forms in adjacent areas, which 

 has always seemed to me so great a help to Entomologists. If I 

 may slightly modify Kipling I would say " what should they know 

 of India, who only India know !" It may surprise some to learn that 

 even among ground-beetles (quite apart fi'om those inhabiting the 

 desert tract from Egypt to Sind), there is at least one species common 

 to India and Africa, and quite a number are spread over large tracts 

 of South East Asia, and the adjacent islands. My -fir,st point therefore 

 is that, in the present state of our knowledge, a catalogue should aim at 

 covering a wide area. 



" (2) Of existing catalogues of the Coleoptera — all that 1 am com- 

 petent to say anything about — the only complete one extant is that of 

 Gemminger and Harold, commenced in 1868, a monument of painstaking 

 labour, which must have proved of inestimable value to Coleopterists 

 during the past fifty years. During that period, however, the number 

 of described species has probably doubled, so that it is now quite out 

 of date. Before the war a new World-catalogue was in course of 

 preparation under the auspices of the firm of Junk in Berlin, and some 

 parts had already appeared in 1914 ; I have, however, no details at 

 hand about it. 



