VI 
Introduction 
journals which publish taxonomic papers should not have to pay the cost 
of publishing the past records and duplicating the synonymy that is al¬ 
ready well known. Thus it would be necessary only to record synonymy 
which has been developed since the publication of the catalogue. Inciden¬ 
tally, I am pleased to note an increase in the method of literature citations 
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 subfamilies and tribes, and the genera are arranged under 
each category in as nearly a phylogenetic order as our present knowledge 
will permit. The species are arranged under the genera in alphabetic se¬ 
quence. 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 Periodicals with minor 
exceptions, the chief difference being that the names of countries, states, 
cities and other geographical units are not abbreviated. A few references 
are listed under their titles rather than under the abbreviations of the 
journals in which they were published, because in these cases the titles are 
usually better known than the journals, for example, Van Duzee 1917 
Catalogue of Hemiptera of America North of Mexico not Techn. Bull. 
California Agr. Exp. Sta. Ent. 2. If the journal has been published in 
series the abbreviation of the journal is followed by a series number or by 
such an abbreviation as n. s. (new series), o. s. (old series), n. f. (neue Folge), 
or the like. This is followed by a note indicating the nature of the refer¬ 
ence. 
The notes which follow the references are generally self explanatory, but 
three points may be mentioned here. Such notations as “[described],” 
“[notes],” “[key],” and the like are intended to be suggestive rather than 
precise or exclusive. The notation “[error]” means not accepted in this 
catalogue. Usually the latest published synonymy is accepted, but not 
always. The other notation “[comparative note]” is used to designate 
those references, often of the greatest taxonomic significance, in which 
two generic, specific or other groups are compared. All references have 
been checked against the original save those marked with an asterisk (*), 
which have been accepted from reliable sources. Every effort has been 
made to have the references full and complete and to give an indication 
