132 Descriptive Catalogue [1896. 



Classification. 



After great consideration I have retained, almost in its entirety, 

 Lacordaire's arrangement of the family. The affinities of several of 

 the tribes lie in so many directions that it is not surprising that all 

 the authors who have attempted a new arrangement of the tribes 

 have arrived at a different conclusion. I may instance Jacquelin du 

 Val's ' Genera des Coleopteres d'Europe,' Bedel's * Faune des 

 Coleopteres du Bassin de la Seine,' Horn's * Genera of Carabidas 

 with special reference to the fauna of Boreal America ' ; Fowler's 



* Coleoptera of the British Islands,' and lastly, Ganglbauer's ' Die 

 Kafer von Mitteleuropa.' 



I have not, however, blindly followed Lacordaire's arrangement, 

 and in accord with Dr. Geo. Horn, I have in some cases removed 

 certain genera to tribes with which they have evident affinities. 

 After all it matters little if the family begins with inverted tribes in 

 order of their sequence. But Lacordaire's arrangement has the 

 great advantage of having been followed by the authors of the 



* Munich Catalogue,' and also by the compilers of the * Zoo- 

 logical Eecord ' until 1889 ; so that until the time comes for the 

 publication of a new Catalogue of Carabidce I deem it desirable 

 that Lacordaire's arrangement, with the few necessary corrections 

 mentioned, should be maintained. 



General. 



In very few cases, and where the type specimens w^ere either not 

 obtainable or no longer to be found, I have copied or translated the 

 original descriptions of genera and species, but all the other 

 descriptions have been made from the specimen. The number of 

 South African Car abided contained in this volume amount to 166 

 genera, including 899 species against 137 genera, and 558 species 

 previously described. That I have been able to carry on the difficult 

 and thankless task of identifying the species is due (1) to Professor 

 Chr. Aurivilius of the Stockholm Museum, through whose courtesy 

 I owe communication of Boheman's types, (2) to Mons. Eene 

 Oberthur, of Eennes, who allowed me to compare myself my 

 examples with Dej can's and De Chaudoir's types now in his 

 possession, who generously presented me with some of these very 

 types when I did not possess the species, and who also, later 

 on, compared at my request such species the identity of which I 

 was in doubt of. In that manner he has enabled me to avoid the 

 errors into which I would of necessity have fallen. Without the help 

 afforded me by these much-valued correspondents, the task I have 

 attempted would have been impossible. 



