. 1837 Curtis, J. A guide to an arrgmgeTriel British insects; •••• % ,'>r-,Ti LL^»£J_!i£LVj >:^2 //l^' cV^^^^^-y ^.\- t^A/^^i>£^/:i:.^ t?^ ^^JZ./^iA£.^l^^^/cV ^ A GUIDE ^^D ^^^4^ TO AN ARRANGEMENT OF BRITISH INSECTS; BEING A CATALOGUE OF ALL THE NAMED SPECIES HITHERTO DISCOVERED IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. By JOHN £URTIS, F.L.S., HONORARY MEMBER OF T^llE ASHMOLEAN SOCIETY OF OXFORD ; OF THE IMPERIAL AND ROYAL ACADEMY OF FLORENCE ; OF THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA, ETC. AUTHOR OF " BRITISH ENTOMOLOGY." SECOND EDITION, GREATLY ENLARGED. 3 LONDON: PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR: PUBLISHED AND SOLD BY J. PIGOT AND CO., 59 FLEET STREET; SHERWOOD AND CO., PATERNOSTER ROW; SIMPKIN AND MARSHALL, STATIONERS* COURT. 1837. Price \Qs. 6d. 7-^41::::^ o<^ gratis, to M'^is^ HARVARD UNlVisf^SSj CAMBRfOG€, MA USA PRINTED BY RICHARD AND JOHN E. TAYLOR, RED LION COURT, FLEET STREET. PREFACE. Every Student in Entomology must have experienced the great inconvenience of not having a compact printed Catalogue of British Insects^ for the purpose of carrying in his pocket or of transmitting to his Correspondents^ to ascertain at one view those which he possessed^ as well as his desiderata. To supply this want Mr. Wilkin began to print A Catalogue of British Insects fifteen years back; and the MS. shortly after falling into the Author's possession, it would have been published long since, had it not been for the repeated promises held out in an- other quarter for the last seven or eight years. The Author is now compelled for his own convenience to print a few Catalogues for himself; and having been solicited by many friends to publish the " Guide/^ he has been induced to comply with their request, hoping that it may be of service to all British Entomologists. 1st. It will enable them to arrange their Cabinets system- atically. 2ndly. They may mark off their own Insects so as to know instantly whether they have a species or not, by which means their desiderata will be shown ; and this the Author is per- suaded will enable Students to enrich their Cabinets by mutual exchanges to an extent which could not be accomplished by any other means. 3rdly. It will form Labels for Cabinets. " 4thly . It will be a systematic Index to The British Entomo- IV logy^*^^ a reference being given to every Genus already illu- strated^ and may be easily continued by those who are desirous of completing it. 5thly. It will be a Catalogue of the Author's Cabinet^ those without a * being his desiderata^ and of those with a J he has only foreign specimens. The names in itahcs denote insects which are doubtful natives. Those who use this Guide for labelling their Cabinets are recommended to place every name in their drawers^ which will eventually save a vast portion of time ; and on no account to cut off the numbers^ as they will be found invaluable for refer- ence and in correspondence. It would occupy too much space to give a complete list of the Authors quoted^ but it will be necessary to state^ that wherever any figures follow the generic names^ they will refer to the "British Entomology'^; as Cicindela 1. refers to the first foho of that work^ and it is gratifying to observe that there is scarcely a page or even a column in which a reference to that Work will not be met with^ showing the great extent to which the Genera have been already illustrated. It is now upwards of eight years since the above Preface to the first edition of this Guide was printed ; at that time it was by far the most extensive Catalogue that had ever been published^ and the numerous additions that have been made to our Bri- tish Collections since that period have with great care and con- siderable labour been embodied in the present edition^ making it by far the most complete Catalogue of the present dayf. « " British Entomology, or Illustrations and Descriptions of the Genera of Insects, by John Curtis, F.L.S." This work now contains 658 coloured plates with representations of 7^7 Insects, besides dissections to establish each Genus, aad also 650 figures of indigenous Plants from wild specimens. t It is calculated to comprise upwards of 1500 generic and nearly 15,000 specific names. From his own British Collection* being now named and ar- ranged by the ^^ Guide/^ the Author has been enabled to make the 2nd edition quite uniform with regard to Gravenhorst's Ich- neumonidae^ of which a complete list is again given^ retaining his numbers to the species^ so that it is an Index to his great Work. As this edition is necessarily increased in size^ from the great addition of new genera and species^ it has been thought advisable to omit as many synonyms as possible^ especially when they have been already recorded in the ^^ British Entomology " or other works^ and this will at the same time make the 1st Edition of the Guide still useful for reference t ; and it was the more necessary to adopt this plan in order to subjoin the Alphabetical Index which must prove of essential service. It may be observed that the original numbers to the Genera have been invariably retained^ so that unnecessary labour should not be entailed on those who have employed the 1st Edition to label their Cabinets^ he, and with few exceptions the old numbers to the species remain also^ but where the genera have received great additions^ as in Tachina for instance^ the numbers of Meigen have been substituted^ by which means an easy reference may be made to his valuable Work, It need scarcely be added that the generic and specific names without numbers are considered as synonyms^ although many of the former which intersect long genera will most probably be * Coataining 9500 species and 24,000 specimens. It may be useful to state Bictyoptera, Orthop- that the Coleoptera occupy 18 drawers ; the Bermaptera, Neuroptera 5 the 2ri- tera and Strepsiptera 2 ; the Hymenoptera 20 ; the ; Aphaniptera choptera 2 ; the Lepidoptera 30 ; the Homoptera, Hemiptera and of or 25 3 ; and the Biptera and Omaloptera 15. Four Cabinets therefore 24 drawers, 18 inches wide and 17 long, will hold all the British Insects, and any one wishing to collect any portion only, is advised to purchase a good Cabinet containing 24 drawers. t A few copies (price Qs,) of the 1st edition, wanting the order Coleoptera, may be had by application to the Editor. VI eventually adopted^ and it may often happen that all the species following such generic names would not be considered by the Author who proposed the name as belonging to his group^ but the one immediately following is always a typical species : it will also be observed that the species in such cases are left with ter- minations agreeing with the first generic name^ as in Borborus. As it is only by collecting diligently^ exchanging liberally and pm'chasing judiciously that a good Collection can be formed^ the Author invites Entomologists to send those insects which are desiderata to him with a marked Guide^ and he will be happy to make the best return in his power.' This request is not made merely that he may possess as far as possible all the British In- sectsj but as his Cabinets have been open for the last 13 years to his friends on Wednesdays^ it will be of advantage to many of the most zealous Naturalists engaged in the Science, and he will willingly give 50^. per 100 for British examples of those species he does not possess, or at the same rate for any smaller number. It is gratifying to the Author to return his best thanks to Mr. Dale, Mr. Haliday, Mr. Walker, and other friends for their kind assistance in rendering this Guide more complete than it otherwise could possibly have been. 57, Upper Charlotte Street, Fitzroy Square, June, 1837. Just Published, By Mr. Andrew Pritchard, a List of 2000 Microscopic Objects, with Remarks and a List of all Plants in which the circulation is visible under a Microscope, forming a Guide for selecting microscopic sul:)jects from the Animal and Vegetable Kingdoms. It is also adapted for labelhng the objects. THYSANURA. COLEOPTERA. hortensis F. Ord. I. THYSANURA. *13 clathratus Z. 1 LEPISMA Zmw. J14 auratus Z. *1 saccharina L. *15 nitens Z. 2 FORBICINA Geof. 13 CALOSOMA 330. 1 polypoda //. *1 Sycophanta Z. 3 PETROBIUS Leach. *2 Inquisitor Z. 1 maritimus Lea. S'^ORCHESELLA Tem2K 13^PELOPHILA302. borealis Pk. 1 filicornis Temp. %\ 2 cincta Temp. 14 NEBRIA 6. 4 PODURAZmw. *1 complanata Z. 1 plumb ea L. arenaria F. 2 nitida Temp. *2 Mvida Z. 3 nigromaculata Temp, lateralis F. 4 albocincta Temp. J3 picicornis F. 5 cingula Temp. 15 HELOBIA 103. 6 fuliginosa Temp. *1 brevicollis F. 7 Stagnorum Temp. l^lata iVet^?. 41'ACHORUTES. *2 Marshallana Ste. 1 diibius Temp. Arctica BeJ. 2 musconmi Temp. 2^varicornis New. 5 SMYNTHURUS Lat. *3 GyUenhalii /ScAo. 1 fuscus Lat. iEtbiops Ste. 2 viridis L. *3^ nivalis Pk. 3 atra i^c5. *4 Heegeri? BeJ. 4 signata jP«5. impressa New. Bon. Orb. III. 16 ALPJ^US COLEOPTERA. Jl castaneus Bon. 17 LEISTUS 176. 10 CICINDELA 1. 1^ nigricans New. *1 sylvatica L. *1 spinibarbis F. SylvicolaZ. X2 coeruleus Lat. *3 hybrida L. *2 fulvibarbis Z^^'. *4 maritima Bej. 2^indentatus New. *5 campestris L. *3 montanus Z^afe. *6 germanica L. *3^ Janus New. 11 426. CYCHRUS *4 spinilabris P^". *1 rostratus L, brunneus Mar.