June-0ct.,i92i Bulletin of the Brooklyn Entomological Society iO'^ 



divided into seven series and twenty superfamilies. A conspectus 

 of the 109 families of living Coleoptera represented in North 

 America appears on p. 38 and the characters of the major groups 

 are found in key-form on pp. 15 and 16. 



Another part of the Introduction examines critically the se- 

 quence of families and major groups, with special reference to 

 their probable phylogeny. The discussion is illustrated with a 

 chart on which vertical lines indicate separations based respec- 

 tively on the sutures, the venation, the larva, the palpi and the 

 antennae, the left-hand columns being the most primitive; hori- 

 zontal lines indicate separations based on the number of abdomi- 

 nal segments and number of tarsal joints, the most primitive being 

 at the bottom of the sheet. When the famihes and most peculiar 

 tribes are entered on such a chart, it is seen that — barring excep- 

 tions due to the survival of more primitive forms in certain 

 series — their sequence proceeds in general from the lower left- 

 hand corner to the upper right-hand corner — ^that is, from the 

 most primitive in respect to the twelve important characters 

 chosen to the most derivative. The succession of the superfami- 

 lies thus obtained, beginning with the Caraboidea and ending with 

 the Scolytoidea, agrees in the main with that adopted for the 

 Catalogue. There is, however, nothing dogmatic about Mr. 

 Leng's position with regard to classification, as sufficiently shown 

 by his concluding remarks (p. 38), 



In the catalogue of the living forms of North American Cole- 

 optera, which constitutes the bulk of the book (pp. 39 to 342) and 

 is printed in double columns, the genera and species have been 

 arranged in natural sequence in accordance with the most recent 

 authoritative works. A mere alphabetic enumeration may pre- 

 sent certain advantages, yet the arrangement adopted by Mr. 

 Leng is much to be preferred, since a work of this kind is pri- 

 marily intended as a guide to classification and proper ordering 

 of the cabinet. A consecutive numbering has been adopted for 

 all species described and so far unquestioned in print; letters a, 

 b, etc., following the numeral indicate varieties, subspecies, races 

 and other forms; disputed names are usually, and recognized 

 synonyms are always, unnumbered. Names that can not at pres- 



