NOMENCLATURE. 
15 
which is practically the area now covered by the “Fauna of British 
We reproduce his 
figures :— 
Orthoptera 
350 (?) 
1,700 
Neuroptera 
350 
400 
Hymenoptera 
850 
3,600 
Coleoptera 
4,780 
6,000 
Lepidoptera 
4,620 
10,000 
Diptera 
500 (?) 
1,000 
Rhynchota 
650 
3,000 
Total 
12,100 
29,700 
giving also an enumeration of our own based on the available figures. 
Thus the Fauna of India and Hampson’s later papers enumerate about 
8,000 moths, there are about 1,500 butterflies, and we estimate 500 
Tineids, etc. Mr. Distant has already enumerated 2,500 Rhynchota, 
and we anticipate 400 more with 100 Coccidse. 
Nomenclature. 
Could we divide all known insects into, say, 300 families of roughly 
1,000 species each, and group these systematically, our nomenclature 
would be a simple matter. 
As we have explained above, the general object is to make families 
the basis of classification ; but we have in this volume to steer a middle 
course between the really accurate classification of the pure svstematist, 
which changes as knowledge grows, and the practical point of view of 
those for whom we write ; we cannot keep remodelling our arrange¬ 
ment and nomenclature. Odonata, for instance, may be a sub-order 
composed of say seven families ; for us and for all field entomologists 
it is practically a family. 
Whenever possible, family names end in— idee, sub-family names 
in— inw , and the names of tribes or sub-divisions of families in— ini ; 
the student must, however, remember that sub-family names frequently 
end in —ides ; and tribes in— ines. It is to be regretted that no uniform 
system can be introduced, and that were we to rigidly adhere to some 
system in this volume, the student would be puzzled when reading foreign 
text-books or literature. 
Identification of Specimens. —Insects are known by names, nomi¬ 
nally of Latin or Greek form, given to them by the entomologist 
