Insects. 



5899 



for a long sea voyage, and finding itself landed on a favourable spot, 

 it has, like many other insects and plants, become perfectly natu- 

 ralized amongst us. Can this be the way it has reached South 

 Carolina ? 



I may further add that so late as the 13th of November it was, 

 including specimens of three lines' length, in full activity, whilst our 

 common earwig is dormant, proving it quite capable of bearing our 

 northern climate, which doubtless it has done for several years past. 



George Wailes. 



Newcastle-on-Tyne, 



November 19, 1857. 



A Proposal for a new Catalogue of British Coleoptera. 

 By J. W. Douglas, Esq. 



The Entomological Society of Stettin has recently published the 

 sixth edition of the ' Calalogus Coleopterorum Europae,' or Catalogue 

 of the Coleoptera of Europe. This publication serves the coleopte- 

 rists of Europe as a guide for naming and arranging their collections, 

 and is used also for facilitating exchange of specimens. That it is 

 not complete or entirely accurate none know better than the com- 

 pilers, for each succeeding edition contains additions to and emenda- 

 tions of its predecessors ; but notwithstanding its imperfections it is 

 accepted as the best thing of the kind procurable, and is found to 

 answer all practical purposes. The best thanks of entomologists are 

 accorded to the Stettin Society, under w^hose auspices and at whose 

 cost this Catalogue is brought out and sold at the price of sixpence 

 per copy, thus placing it within the reach of every one. 



Now, it does seem strange that, w^hile we have a Catalogue of the 

 Coleoptera of Europe, we have not one of the Coleoptera of Britain. 

 It might have been supposed, seeing the species found in Britain are, 

 with few exceptions, common to the Continent, that it would be easy 

 to select our natives from the European list ; but, unfortunately, the 

 nomenclature hitherto used in this country differs materially from 

 that accepted abroad, so that to a great extent we cannot recognize 

 our species under continental names, nor can continental entomolo- 

 gists understand what species are intended to be indicated by our 

 English names. The difficulty is further increased by the fact that 

 we ourselves are often unable to tell any better than a foreigner what 



