23 



nevertheless carefully compared those papers, and checked off the 

 types present. 



The papers on Bombycidae and Zygaenidae in the Proceedings of 

 the Philadelphia Entomological Society for 1864, and in the Fourth 

 Report of the Peabody Academy, 1872, were carefully compared, 

 and after this had been done, the North American species newly 

 arranged. Of the species described in the first paper, only two 

 types are wanting, — Platanotia modesta and (Edemasia nitida. 

 Of the species contained in the second paper, only five are want- 

 ing, described from specimens belonging to other entomologists. 

 Of his paper on the Lepidopterous Fauna of Labrador (Proc. Bost. 

 Nat. Hist. Soc, 1866,) among the Diurna and Bombycidae only 

 three are wanting. 



The types of the Hymenopterous and Lepidopterous Insects col- 

 lected by Prof. J. Orton for the Smithsonian Institution in South 

 America (Pep. Peabody Acad., I.) are of course in the Museum of 

 this institution ; but of the insects collected in Pebas, Ecuador 

 (Rep. IV., 1872), the types of the four described Lepidoptera are 

 present. 



The Coleoptera from Labrador (Rep. IV., p. 92), all but twelve, 

 are present. Of the types of the Synopsis of the Thysanura 

 (Rep. V., p. 23), all the Texan species, and a number of the 

 others, are present. They are about the only Thysanura in the 

 collection. 



A comparative exhibition of the Insects of all parts of the globe 

 would be for the Museum a feature equally interesting and in- 

 structive, the more so as it has not been tried by any other 

 Museum. At first I had no doubt that such an exhibition could 

 be effected, at least to a large extent, with the material actually 

 at hand, though the best first-class specimens had been used be- 

 fore, especially in the unusually large systematic exhibition. Of 

 course some preparatory work was needed, and was begun directly. 

 But the work grew unexpectedly large and daily larger, as impor- 

 tant groups and families had to be brought together and studied 

 again. In fact, during the last five months this work occupied 

 nearly the whole time of the Assistant. 



Finally, I decided to try first the exhibition for Europe, because 

 its fauna is the most familiar one. After having filled two boxes 

 with butterflies, — the large number of Argynnidae is a prominent 

 character of the European fauna, — the Coleoptera were begun 



