Catalogue of the Described Diptera from South Asia

Abstract

COMPARATIVELY few entomologists interest themselves in Diptera, and therefore the number of species of the order enumerated in the present catalogue is only 2889, and doubtless represents only a small percentage of those actually existing in the rich fauna which it samples; for the Diptera are probably the third most numerous order of insects, surpassed only, according to the indications of our present knowledge, by the Hymenoptera and Coleoptera in the total number of species which they may be expected to include. Prof. Van der Wulp is recognised as one of our first living authorities on Diptera, and his work will prove of great use to specialists, especially as M. Bigot's “Catalogue of the Diptera of the Oriental Region,” published in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal for 1891 and 1892, is both imperfect and inaccurate. The introductory part of the work is written in English, and includes a “Review of the Literature of Oriental Dipterology” and a bibliographical list of books and papers consulted. There is also a table of contents at the beginning, and an index of families and genera at the end. We cannot have too many books of this description; for although the number of undescribed species of insects is enormous, it is perhaps even more important to attempt to keep pace with the rapidly-accumulating mass of descriptive matter by means of carefully compiled monographs and synonymic reference catalogues, than to confine our energies to piling up additional descriptions by the hundred or the thousand. Catalogue of the Described Diptera from South Asia. By F. M. Van der Wulp. 8vo. Pp. 220. Published by the Dutch Entomological Society. (The Hague: M. Nijhoff, 1896.)