EEPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 29 



plan has been strictly pursued in the successive entomological works 

 undertaken for the Institution, as will appear from the following 

 account. 



1. Among all the orders of insects which are found on the conti- 

 nent of North America, the Coleoptera (beetles) were the best known, 

 owing principally to the exertions of Dr. Le Conte, of Philadelphia. 

 What was wanted as regards this order for popular purposes was less 

 the increase of knowledge than the condensation above alluded to. 

 This has been aimed at in two publications by the Institution, namely, 

 Melsheimer's Catalogue of the Coleoptera of the United States, revised 

 by Haldeman and Le Conte, and published in 1853, and the Classifica- 

 tion of the Coleoptera of North America, by Dr. Le Conte. The 

 first part of the latter appeared in 1861, and the second will be issued 

 soon. The first of these works facilitated research by furnishing a 

 list of all the described species, with references to the works or sci- 

 entific transactions containing them. The second will give a thorough 

 and detailed account of the systematical distribution of the Coleop- 

 tera of this country, and thus offer to the student a faithful delineation 

 of the present state of the science, and to the beginner a welcome 

 hand-book for its acquisition. 



2. The Lepidoptera, (butterflies, moths, &c.,) have always been, 

 like the Coleoptera, a favorite order of insects, and a considerable num- 

 ber of descriptions of North American species was scattered through 

 various works, transactions, &c. It w T as decided, therefore, to issue 

 first, a list of these species, with references, on the plan of Melshei- 

 mer's catalogue of Coleoptera; next, a republication in a compact 

 form of all these descriptions in English. Both these works were 

 prepared, at the suggestion of the Institution, by Dr. Morris, of Bal- 

 timore, and published, the one as a catalogue, in 1860, the other as a 

 synopsis of the described Lepidoptera of North America, in 1861. The 

 latter will save to the lepidopterist much trouble and expense, by 

 giving him in one volume what he would have had to look for in 

 more than fifty different publications. 



3. The order of Neuroptera (dragon flies, may flies, lace-wings, • 

 &c.,) contains, comparatively, a small number of species, and for this 

 reason it was possible to produce at once a more perfect and thorough 

 work on this order than has yet been prepared on any other. The 

 synopsis of the Neuroptera of North America, with a list of the South 

 American species, published in 1861, was prepared, at the request of 

 the Institution, by Dr. Hermann Hagen, of Konigsberg, one of the 



