Introduction 
v 
designated by the same superscript figures. In general we have indicated 
the distribution as given by the author of the reference, using the country 
as the smallest unit except in the larger countries, where states and prov- 
inces are used as the smallest units. In the larger island groups the in- 
dividual islands are indicated wherever possible, in view of the importance 
of island endemism. 
THE PURPOSES TO BE SERVED BT A CATALOGUE OF INSECTS 
A catalogue of animals should serve practically all fields of biology. It 
should be, therefore, as complete a listing of all the records of families, 
subfamilies, tribes, genera, species, and varieties as it is possible for the 
author to assemble. The nature of the reference is of the greatest impor- 
tance. A student of zoogeography should be able to find a complete list of 
the regions inhabited by the various species. The student of ecology should 
be able to find references to all that is known about the life history, food 
plants, and other pertinent data. The student of economic entomology 
should be able to check the histories of those species that are suspected of 
being injurious to plants. The plant disease specialist should be able to 
check the current nomenclature of the species which are disease vectors 
or suspected of being disease vectors. Those research workers studying 
morphology, physiology, or genetics should be able to trace the develop- 
ment in the field of their special interest. And lastly, the student of tax- 
onomy should be relieved of the burden of searching for past recordings, 
and the journals which publish taxonomic papers should not have to pay 
the cost of publishing the past records and duplicating the synonymy that 
is already well known. Thus it would be necessary only to record synonymy 
which has been developed since the publication of the catalogue. Inci- 
dentally, I am pleased to note an increase in the method of literature cita- 
tions developed in my Bibliography of the Homoptera Auchenorhyncha. 
Thus Smith 1950a: 63 is a better method of citation than the present 
method: Smith, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist (12) 5: 63. 
Unfortunately this method was not adopted in the earlier numbers of 
this series and since about three-fourths of the catalogues are in manu- 
script, it was not deemed wise to make this change at this time. 
FORM OF THE PRESENT CATALOGUE 
This catalogue follows the general form of the present series. The family 
is divided into genera which are arranged in as nearly a phylogenetic order 
as our present knowledge will permit. The species are arranged under the 
genera in alphabetic sequence. Titles of books are not abbreviated but are 
condensed if they are unduly long. The abbreviations of journal references 
follow in general the scheme proposed in the World List of Scientific Pe- 
