104 Bulletin of the Brooklyn Entomological Society Vol. XVI 



ent be identified are listed at the close of each genus, set off by a 

 dash; there are about 330 thus cited, mostly of older authors, 

 such as Motschulsky, Mannerheim, and others. This number is 

 remarkably small considering the amount of descriptive work 

 that has been done by writers of very unequal standing both here 

 and abroad. 



Especial attention should be called to the system of reference, 

 which strikes me as being very practical in cases where biblio- 

 graphic information must be condensed as much as possible. 

 Each scientific name is followed by that of its author (which is 

 usually abbreviated) and by figures indicating the final two of the 

 year in which the description was published, separated by a 

 hyphen from the page on which the description occurs. These in 

 turn refer to the chronological list of each author's papers at the 

 end of the volume. The distribution is given in a general way 

 and in abbreviated form. From the data thus presented it is 

 evident that much remains to be done even in the Coleoptera be- 

 fore they can be safely used as a basis for zoogeographic specu- 

 lation, for in most cases the published records indicate the distri- 

 bution of the collectors rather than that of the insects. Species 

 introduced into North America from foreign countries are so 

 marked; they do not number more than 160, even including some 

 doubtful cases, a surprisingly small figure when one considers the 

 many possibilities of accidental dispersal of insects offered by 

 present-day cosmopolitan commerce. 



The last comprehensive work on the subject, Mr. Henshaw's 

 Check List of 1885, contained 9,238 names regarded of specific 

 value, and its supplement, published in 1895, brought this number 

 up to 11,256. The present work lists 18,540 species, and even 

 this figure gives no adequate idea of the activity of North Ameri- 

 can coleopterists during the last thirty-five years, for in addition 

 there are recorded in the Catalogue innumerable forms which con- 

 servative authorities regard either as varieties or subspecies. 

 Counting the synonyms, over 30,000 names are recorded by Mr. 

 Leng. 



The Strepsiptera are to be found in an Appendix (pp. 343- 

 345)- According to certain writers they form a distinct order, 

 while in the opinion of others they are merely aberrant Cole- 



