PREFACE. 



Ix preparing this Catalogue, at the request of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution, for the benefit of those who wish to examine 

 oixr native Orthoptera, I have adoj:>ted a purely alphabetical 

 arrangement. The list is not in any sense a synonymical one, 

 involving the expression of personal views, but a hand-book 

 for the student, in which is collected every reference to any 

 species of Orthoptera stated to have been found on the conti- 

 nent of North America or in the West Indies — a ground- 

 work upon which he may erect a superstructure of his own. 



It would be difficult to extend its scope and retain uniformity 

 of design without making it a complete synonymical list, scarcely 

 differing from an index to an elaborate monograph, and necessi- 

 tating nearly all the labor which that would require. Such a 

 monograph I am preparing for the Smithsonian Institution, but 

 the earlier publication and distribution of this list will assist me 

 to obtain material for my purpose, and further the interests of 

 science, by calling attention to this neglected group of insects. 



The list furnishes an index to the exact names given to 

 the insects in the original descriptions; if an author has 

 described the same species, at different times, under different 

 generic or specific names, although confessedly synonymous, 

 they will not be found together, but distributed through the 

 book in alphabetical order; so, too, the species of Linne 

 and Fabricius are given under the ancient genera in which 

 these authors placed them and not under the modern ones to 

 which they have since been referred. When an author has 

 used sub-genera, retaining the generic name in connection with 

 the specific, as Burmeister, De Haan and de Saussure have 

 frequently done, the specific will be placed under the generic 



