16 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT OF 



memoirs in the Smithsonian Contributions. In the present memoir he 

 has described new species of diatomaceae, limnias, auliscus, peridi- 

 nium, cothurnia, and monactinus ; he has given the American locali- 

 ties of Amphitetras antediluviana, and tetragramma, and gives an ac- 

 count of the organic forms found in the Croton water, New York. 



One of the species described forms a material resembling white clay, 

 which occurs in a large deposit at Suisun bay, about thirty miles above 

 San Francisco ; and should, says Prof. Bailey, this fact meet the eye 

 of any scientific traveller in California, it may induce him to furnish 

 further information concerning the geological relations ol this interesting 

 deposit, and to collect a good supply of specimens for a more complete 

 study. 



It has been known to the New York microscopists, but not to the 

 public generally, that the Croton water abounds in beautiful microsco- 

 pic organisms, and particularly in, diatomacese and desmidieae. The 

 author found in the sediment collected by means of a filter at the 

 Astor House, more than fifty different species of these organisms. Of 

 these the gallionella crotonensis is in the greatest abundance, and 

 thousands of its fragments must be daily swallowed by those who use 

 the unfiltered water. It is so abundant that Prof. Bailey suggests that 

 it may yet prove of importance as a means of detecting the fraudulent 

 dilution of various substances by this water. 



This memoir is illustrated by a number of wood-cuts and thirty-eight 

 elaborately drawn figures on a steel plate beautifully executed by J. E. 

 Gavitt, an amateur naturalist and artist of Albany, New York. 



9. During the past year the catalogue of Coleoptera by Frederick 

 Ernst Melsheimer, M. D., mentioned in a previous Report, has been 

 published and distributed. It forms an octavo volume of 174 pages. 



At first sight it would appear that the study of insects is the most 

 trivial and furthest removed of that of any part of creation from useful 

 purposes ; but independently of the interest which attaches to it as an 

 exposition of animated nature, and an exhibition of organization and 

 life in curiously diversified forms, there is scarcely any branch of 

 natural history more intimately connected with the pursuits of the hus- 

 bandman, the naval architect, and even those of the artist and the 

 bibliographer, than entomology. It is the duty therefore of this institu- 

 tion to afford every facility for the acquisition of this branch of know- 

 ledge, and to increase the number of those who make it their special 

 study. 



The coleoptera form one of the largest and most widely distributed 

 class of insects ; and on account of their boring habits, some of the 

 species are highly destructive to timber. In order, however, to study 

 them properly, it is necessary that the same species which exist in this 

 country and in Europe may be identified, 'and that those which are new 

 here may be separately described. The present memoir gives the 

 names ol all those which have been described, with references to the 

 works where the descriptions may be found. Dr. Melsheimer has 

 spent several years in the preparation of this work. It was referred 

 for examination to Professor S. S. Haldeman and Dr. J. L. Le Conte, 

 who reported in favor of its publication, and offered to superintend its 



