1873. ] 213 
34 genera, and 119 species; Diploptera, containing 2 families, 3 genera, and 20 
species; and Anthophila, containing 2 families, 26 genera, and 204 species. 
Roughly and popularly speaking, these sub-divisions may be taken to represent 
Ants, Sand-wasps, Wasps, and Bees. 
A review of a work on Aculeata will naturally be expected to contain some 
stinging criticisms; but in this respect my readers will scarcely be gratified. I 
would not willingly tread in a hornet’s nest. And, in truth, as regards the 
Entomology of the group, Mr. Smith’s habit of keen observation and familiarity 
with the insects themselves, his knowledge of the literature of the subject, his 
power of detecting affinities, and his faculty for the discrimination of species, place 
him far above my criticism. My remarks will therefore be addressed principally 
to points of detail in the arrangement of the Catalogue; in other words, it is the 
Cataloguer, not the Entomologist, that I arraign; and the points to which I shall 
refer will be chiefly such as have a bearing upon the future parts of the undertaking. 
I will first notice a few variations in form between the mode of dealing with the 
Aculeate Hymenoptera, and that pursued with the Neuroptera. In the Neuroptera, 
Mr. Mc Lachlan, in his citations of authors, always begins with the oldest name of 
the species, then follows on with the references in chronological order to authors 
who employ the same generic and specific names, and next with the references in 
chronological order to authors who employ the same specific but a different generic 
name ; the other specific names which have at various times been given to the 
insect are then taken up in turn, and each is treated in like manner. Take, e. g., 
Sympetrum scoticum, Cat. Neur. p.12. The original name given by Donovan was 
Libellula scotica; commencing with this, we have next the references to Selys, 
Rambur, and Hagen, who all use the same name; then the references to Newman and 
Evans, who employ the names Synpetrum scoticum and Diplaw scotica respectively. 
Having thus exhausted all the references under scotica, the next oldest name, 
Sympetrum basale, is taken, and this specific name is exhausted in the same 
manner as the previous one; and so on with the rest. 
In the Aculeata, Mr. Smith has proceeded upon a different plan; take, for 
instance, Sapyga clavicornis, p. 5. Beginning with Apts clavicornis, we pass at 
once to the synonyms Scolia prisma and Masaris crabronijformis, and then return to 
Sapyga prisma, and ultimately to Sapyga clavicornis, the binomial appellation by 
which the insect is now known. Or, take Ammophila viatica, p. 9. Beginning 
with Sphewx viatica, we go in turn to S. hirsuta and arenaria, then return to 
Ammophila hirsuta, again return to Psammophila viatica, and after this devious 
course are finally landed in Ammophila viatica. It is manifest that the order of 
citation is here determined by different considerations from those which governed 
the order in the Catalogue of Neuroptera; Mr. Smith’s scheme seems to depend 
upon generic chronology, while Mr. Mc Lachlan’s is based on specific chronology ; 
and as this plan has been followed pretty uniformly (though not universally) 
throughout the present Catalogue, I presume it has been deliberately adopted as 
an improvement upon the former plan. The difference between the two (note 
also the variation in punctuation) will be best seen by placing in juxta-position the 
entry of the same species as catalogued by Mr. Smith, and as it would have 
appeared if the citations had been given according to the scheme of the previous 
Catalogue (No.1), Thus, 
