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PREFACE, 



The object of this work is threefold : — first, to give a complete list 

 of all the species of Hynienoptera hitherto described, with references 

 to the literature, so as to serve as a guide and aid in improving the 

 collection in the British Museum, which in some respects is very 

 incomplete ; secondly, to enumerate the specimens at present con- 

 tained in that collection ; and, thirdly, to illustrate the most 

 important of them, viz. the types of specific descriptions, many of 

 which are now published for the first time. 



Mr. W. F. Kirby, one of the Assistants of this Department, has 

 prepared this first volume, and has made considerable progress with 

 the manuscript of the second. 



ALBERT GUNTHER, 



Keeper of the Department of Zoology. 



British Museum, 

 July 1, 1882, 



