Smithsonian miscellaneous collections

SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS

VOLUME

94 NUMBER3

Xtbomas Xincoln Case^ jFunb

THOMAS LINCOLN CASEY AND THE CASEY COLLECTION OF

COLEOPTERA

(With One

Plate)

BY L. L.

BUCHANAN

JureauofEntomology andPlant Quarantine, U.S.DepartmentofAgriculture

(Publication 3330)

CITY OF

WASHINGTON

PUBLISHED BY

THE

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION

JUNE

8, 1935

FOREWORD

The

CaseyCollection of ColeopterabequeathedtotheUnitedStates National

Museum

by

Thomas

Lincoln Casey, basis of a lifetime of investigation on the part of one of the foremost coleopterists in America, rich in types, with carefully selected specimens of a high degreeof perfectioninpreparation, contains material that ^isof con- stantand permanentvalue to other systematicworkersin the multi- tude of families that ColonelCasey coveredinhisextended andpains- taking researches. It isthemost importantsingle giftthathas

come

tothe sectiontowhich ^itpertainsinthe Division of Insects.

Few words

are necessarytoexplainthata private^collectionusedby one highly trained and careful individual

may

be kept and handled successfullyunder an arrangementthatisimpossibleina publicinsti- tution where material is consulted by

many

research workers.

To

conserve space ColonelCasey pinned hisspecimensas closelyas pos- sible.

To

conserve time he useda

method

inlabelingthat,while safe andefifectiveforhispurposes,

would

certainly leadtodisastrous con- fusion if placed' in the hands of many.

No

^{one had fuller under-}

standing of these facts than Colonel Casey himself, and usually he handledhisspecimenspersonally

when

examining

them

withscientific visitors.

The

question ofsafeguardingthis collectionadequately

became

para-

mount

at once

on

its receipt in the National

Museum.

Dr. _J.

M.

Aldrich, Associate Curator of the Division of Insects, with the ad- viceof S.A.

Rohwer,

Entomologistin Chargeof

Taxonomic

Inves- tigations,

Bureau

of Entomology, on

March

3, 1925,^called a confer- ence ofcoleopteristsandothers interestedto considerthismatter.

At

thismeeting

Mr. Rohwer

presentedasetofresolutions,adoptedafter duediscussion,thatindicated theimportanceof thecollectionandthe necessityof careful labelingand arrangementbefore the material

was

thrown

open to general consultation and use.

The

necessary funds for effectingthis werea matterfor

some

consideration.

The

matter rested here until

August

12, 1925,

when

Iappointed acommittee to considerrecommendations for procedure, consisting of Dr. Aldrich aschairman,assistedby

W.

S.Fisherand

H.

S.Barberof the

Bureau

of Entomology, andDr. E. A.Chapin of the Zoological Division of the

Bureau

of

Animal

Industry, United StatesDepartmentof Agri- culture. After due and careful consideration this group rendered a report on September 15 which, with

some

slight modification, has

served as the

method

forthe handlingand installation of thecollec- tion.

The

detailsofthisaredescribedby

Mr. Buchanan

inthe follow- ingreportand neednotbe itemizedhere.

A

beginninginlabelingand arrangement

was made

by

H.

S.Barber, but^it

was

evidentatoncethatdefiniteassistance

was

requiredtocarry thematter forward. Realizing this need and desiring in every

way

to hasten the arrangement of the material so that ^it mightbe

made

availableaspromptlyaspossible,Mrs.

Laura Welsh

Caseyestablished aspecial fundcarriedinher

name

underthe Smithsonian Institution and

made

available the necessary

money

to carry onthe work.

An

agreement

was made

with the

Bureau

of Biological Survey, United States DepartmentofAgriculture,

whereby Mr.

L.L.

Buchanan was

released for half time

employment

under this fund for

work

on the Casey Collection,and thearrangement beganonAprili, 1926. This cooperative arrangement

was

continued later with the

Bureau

of

Entomology

following

Mr.

Buchanan'stransfertothatservice. Cases for storage alsowerepurchased. In additiontoall this,Mrs. Casey, withtheadvice of Dr.

W. M. Mann,

suppliedanexcellentmicroscope of

modern

type, and arranged for binding

many

of the reference

works

inthespeciallibrarythataccompaniedthecollection.

Thatthe long task of arrangingthe collectionwent forward from this time without delay has been due entirely to the steady interest and encouragement of Mrs. Casey, to

whom

all thanks are due ^for furtheringthis

monument

tothe

memory

ofher distinguishedhusband.

In additionto supplying funds for thearrangement of the collec- tionMrs.Caseyhasbygift tothe SmithsonianInstitutionestablished apermanent

endowment known

as the

Thomas

Lincoln Casey Fund, the incomeof whichistobeused formaintenanceof the CaseyCol- lectionandfor the generalpromotionofresearchinColeoptera.

Under

thisfundtherewillbe published

from

timetotimeintheSmithsonian Miscellaneous Collections papers dealing with the Casey Collection andwith Coleopteraingeneral,the presentaccountby

Mr. Buchanan

initiating this series. All publicationsappearingunderthese auspices willbe designatedas underthe

Thomas

Lincoln Casey Fund.

In closingitisfittingthatIshould expressto

Mr.

L. L.

Buchanan

the thanks of the Smithsonian Institution for the careful and con- scientious

manner

inwhich he has carriedforwardtocompletion the exacting task ofarrangingtheCaseyCollection.

The

presentinstalla- tionhasarousedtheadmirationofall

who

havevisitedtheCasey

room

since this

work

hasbeencompleted.

Alexander Wetmore,

AssisfajifSecretary, Suiithsonian Institution.

XLbomas Xiucolu Case^ jfun&

THOMAS LINCOLN CASEY AND THE CASEY COLLEC- TION OF COLEOPTERA

By

L. L.

BUCHANAN

^'

BureauofEntomology andPlant Quarantine, U.S. DepartmentofAgriculture

(With One

Plate)

Thomas

LincolnCasey

was

bothsoldierand

man

ofscience.

Seldom

does one lifetime present substantial and valued achievement ⁱⁿ

two

fieldsaswidelyseparated aswerethe

two

provinces ofthis coleopterist

who was

also an

army

engineer.

Born

in 1857at

West

Point,he

was

theson of Brig. -Gen.

Thomas

LincolnCasey,

who

asChiefofEngineersof theUnited States

Army was

to carrythrough the construction of the Congressional Library building,andof theupperpart of the

Washington Monument. One

of his grandfathers

was

Maj.-Gen. Silas Casey, and the other

was

Robert

W.

Weir, for 50 years professor of drawing at the United States Military

Academy.

After a year in the Sheffield Scientific SchoolofYaleUniversityheentered the Military

Academy

at

West

Point. There he

was

a high-stand

man

through the four years of hiscourse.

Upon

hisgraduationin 1879^{^isposition inhis class ad-} mitted

him

totheCorpsof Engineers,and bythe timeheretired

from

activedutyin191 2hehadreached therankofcolonel.

Astronomy was

the field in which the

young

lieutenant did his earliest scientific work. His first military assignment took

him

to the Engineer

and Submarine Mining

School atWillet's Point,

now

Fort Totten at one of the entrances to

New York

harbor; here he

made

aspecialty of theoreticalandapplied astronomy,to such good effectthatin 1882,

when

Prof.

Simon Newcomb

led anexpeditionto the

Cape

of

Good Hope

to observe thetransitof Venus, Lieutenant Casey

was

a

member

of the partyandacted asassistantastronomer.

He was

alsoa

member

of theGreer

County

Commission, which went to

Texas

in1886to

mark

theboundarylinesbetweena portion ofwhat

was

then theIndian Territoryandthe State ofTexas.

*Thewriterwishes toacknowledgehisdeep obligationtoClara Cutler Chapin,

who

prepared the biographicalsketch,andmademanyhelpfulsuggestionsrelating to other portionsofthe manuscript.

Smithsonian MiscellaneousCollections, Vol.94,No.3 I

94

1111898CaptainCasey

was

marriedtoMiss

Laura

Welsh,of Phila- delphia, and they

made

their first

home

in Virginia. Captain Casey had been incharge of construction

work

at Fort

Monroe

^;

upon

the outbreakof the Spanish

War

he

was made

major and

was

entrusted withthesubmarine mine defenses of

Hampton

Roads.

Earlyinthe present century

Major

Casey

was

assignedtoduty on the Mississippi River,andherebegan aninterest inconchologywhich

was

tocontinuethroughouthislife.

For

₄yearshe

was

a

member

of the Mississippi River Commission, stationed firstat Vicksburg and later at St. Louis. It

was

at this timethat he beganto build

up

the notable collection of recentandfossilshells of thelowerMississippi which servedasbasisfor studies carried on duringthelateryears of hislife.

For

40 years

Thomas

Lincoln Casey

was

an eager and devoted student of Coleoptera. Halfadozenofhispaperson

North American

beetlesappeared inthe year 1884,and

from

then onthey were fre- quent.

The

50or

more

publicationswhich

came

out before1910 were confined to Coleoptera of North America, but with the "

Memoirs

onthe Coleoptera " (1910-1924) heenlargedhisfieldtoincludeCen- traland South

American

species aswell.

Every

paper

was

the fruit of careful andaccurate study.

By

field

work

and by extensive purchases, the

young

officer

was

carefullybuilding

up

acollectionof

American

Coleopteraanda library of the publications dealing with them, which wereto excite the ad- miration of all

who

were^privileged to examine them.

The

constant shiftingof base which

was

involved in his

army

career enabled

him

to dofield

work

and

make

additionsto his collection inalmostevery section of our country, for he

was

stationed successively on

Long

Island, in Philadelphia, in California,in Texas, in

Rhode

Island, at

New

York, in Virginia, at Vicksburg, at St. Louis, and finally at Washington, D.

C,

where hecontinued to

make

his

home

after his retirement in 1912.

Hisstudieswere based on specimens in hispossession,andwerea regular feature of his earlyschedule.

Two

hoursof the leisure left by his military duties were devoted to entomology. In this daily period he puthisspecimens underhisbinocular

compound

microscope

and

subjected

them

toan examination^that

was

detailedand thorough to the last degree. Measurements,

when

taken, were painstakingly accurate, andevery finepoint of habitusand sculpture

was

covered in his notes.

Many

of his papers were privately printed and were distributed so as to puttheir findings at the disposal of all students to

whom

theywould beofvalue.

NO. 3 CASEY COLLECTION OF COLEOPTERA

BUCHANAN

₃

Colonel Caseydied February 3, 1925, and^the microscope he had used throughouthis long entomological career

was

buriedwith him.

His large and valuable entomological and conchological collections, each with its comprehensive library, were left to the United States National

Museum.

His other property

was

left to Mrs. Casey for life, theestate to be given eventuallyto three scientific societies, the National

Academy

of Sciences, the

New York Academy

of Sciences, andtheAstronomical Society of the Pacific. Mrs. Casey

was named

^•

soleexecutor.

The

Caseycollectionof Coleoptera

was

transportedby automobile

from

the Casey apartment by

H.

S. Barber and E. A. Chapin and

was

stored for a short time in a tower

room

of the

Old Museum

building; later it

was

transferred to a

room

in the Natural History building

where

it remains, Casey's entomological library,consisting of about 900 volumes and

many

separates, accompanied the beetle collection,andthe

two

items

now form

acompactandaccessibleunit forresearch onmattersconnected withCasey's work.

The

^{collection as} received

was

housed in about 260 boxes of the Schmitttype,containedin

wooden

cabinets.

The

specimensthemselves were clean, well mounted, and in

good

condition. In general, the seriesof the dififerentspecieswereclearlysegregated, thefirstspeci-

men

bearing the

name

label,the others groupedafter it in the con- ventionalmanner. Becauseof theuniformityofmounts,the unusually smalllocality labels,andthe precisealignmentof material,Casey

was

ableto get an astonishingly large

number

of specimens in

some

of the boxes. His

manual

^skillinhandlingmaterialgaveto parts of the collectiona deceptiveappearanceof amplespacing, but the abnormal compression immediately

became

evident

when

attempts were

made

to

remove

or to replace individual specimens, and

showed

the im- practicabilityof allowingstudents the privilege of studying thecollec- tion inthe original boxes.

The

uniformityofmounts,soconspicuousa feature of thecollection asa whole,isduetoa practiceCaseyfollowed for a

good many

years

;

besides preparingthe considerable quantities of material he himself collected,he remountedall specimens received

from

correspondents.

In

Memoir

7, page _35, 1916, he speaks of careful mounting as a

"prime ^necessity", even though such curatorial

work

" absorbs a very large proportion of all the time available for such [research]

studiesinthe dailyroutine oflife, whichflows alongandebbs

away

with ever increasing speed^". Suggestionsasto theproper

mounting

4 94

of small Staphylinidae are givenin

Memoir

2,page2, 1911,while in

Memoir

I,page i, 1910, objections are

made

tothe

European method

of mounting on cards.

The

collection contains considerable amounts of exotic material, both

named and unnamed,

^{in nearly all the} groups monographically studied, especially in the families Scarabaeidae, Staphylinidae, Cur- culionidae, Tenebrionidae, and Cryptophagidae.

The

regions repre- sented arechiefly Europe, Mexico, and Central and South America.

Thereisalsoa quantity of undetermined North

American

material, the bulk of^itinthose families notcriticallystudiedbyCasey.

Here

and there throughout the collection stand specimens labeled simply ^"

L

^". Theseare partof the old Levette cabinet, concerning which Caseysays (Coleopterological Notices,2, p. 501, 1890) ^:

The

material is "

from

the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida, and Colorado,

much

of which

was

probably collectedby Morrison^". In recording locality forthose ^"

L

^" specimens surmised to be

from

the eastern part of theUnitedStates,Caseygenerallysuggestseither"Indiana^"

or ^"Indiana?"; for thosethought tobe ofwestern origin,he often gives Colorado.

A

good

many

of Casey's specimens bearing label

"Ari^"or "Ariz^"are probablyLevettecollectionmaterial.

The

abbreviation ^"typ.", which" frequently appears on the

name

labelsof species of other authors, stands for"typical " (not " type ") and showsthatCasey regardedthespecimenasatypicalexamplebe- cause ofitsagreement withthe^originaldescription or with the actual type. Considerable reliance can be placed on such determinations, especially in thecase of Leconte or

Horn

species, with the types of which Casey compared

much

ofhis material.^

Name

labels reversed or folded generally indicate that Casey re- gardedthespecimenasincorrectly determined, or considered the spe- cies a synonym. In a

few

cases

name

labels were folded for no apparent reasonotherthantoreducetheirsize.

Compared

tomost

modern

collections,theCaseyCollection contains a rather small average

number

of specimensperspecies,though this condition

would

naturally followinthe case of a private cabinetwhere species lines areclosely drawn.

However,

Casey's series were often ample, including

from

severalupto20or

more

specimens,and more- overthereisevidence,inthe caseof certainspecies, thatheexamined

many more

specimens than

now

appearinthecollection.

For

example,

*In Coleopterological Notices,5,p.599,1893,Caseysays thatCentrinuscanns

"_is the only speciesnot describedfrom the ^originaltype ora specimencare- fullycompared therewith". There are many statements of similar purport in his writings.

NO. 3 CASEY COLLECTION OF COLEOPTERA

BUCHANAN

₅

in

Memoir

7,page2,1916, he referstothestudy of275individuals of SaprinuslugensErichson

from

Arizona,though atpresent there are but six Arizona specimens of this species in the collection. Again,

among

Casey's 16 examples of

Tyloderma

foveolata

Say

is a pair

from

Indiana, the smaller of which bears a folded label in Casey's handwriting,^"smallestof 65^",the larger a similarlabel, " largestof 65^".

The

greaterconvenienceof small, selected lots for study pur- poses

was

no doubt Casey's principal reason for restricting the size of his series,withinsufficientstorage space a contributory factor. It isnottobesupposedthat hediscarded alltheduplicates,ason

more

than one occasionconsignments of.excess material were sent to the National

Museum

and possiblytootherinstitutionsorcorrespondents as well.

Casey'sunusualscheme for indicating thelocalityofhisspecimens deserves special mention.

The

base of this systemis a small State abbreviation labeltowhich he addedvarious

marks

or symbols

—

^dots,

dashes, and crosses

—

ⁱⁿ black or red ink.

The

^nature, number, ar- rangement,andcolorof these

marks

onthelabelgives theclue tothe definite localitywithin the Stateand sometimestoadditionalinforma- tion astodateandcollector.

For

example AridenotesSabinoCanyon, SantaCatalinaMountains, Arizona,collectedbyJ. F.Tucker. There are altogetherabout 160differentkinds of these crypticlabelsrepre- sented inthecollection.

A

completelist ofthem, togetherwiththeir

more

precise locality equivalents, arranged alphabetically by States, iskeptonfile intheCasey

room

withthecollection,so thattheexact localityof any specimen canbe quickly ascertained.

In adopting this unorthodox

method

of labeling, Casey's purpose

was

to obtain a labelwhich, while giving the essential data or clue tosuchdata, atthe

same

time

was

small

enough

topermit unobstructed examination of the ventral surface of the specimen.

The

short focal distance and high magnification attendant on the use of his old- fashioned binocular

compound

microscope

made

smalllabelsavirtual necessity; in the case ofminutebeetles, such labelshad the further merit ofconservingspace, increasing the availablepinningareainhis boxes byone-third or more. Casey followed thisscheme of labeling for

many

years, but finallygaveitup,doubtless becausethe growth of his collection rendered the system too complicated for easy use.

The

conventional localitylabelswhich wereattachedto latermaterial were reducedtothe desired smallnessbyfolding, eitheronceor twice, butalways so astoleavethe State

name

uppermost.

Of

the 9,400 species describedbyCasey, the typespecimensofmost have beenlocated.

The

types of a few however,

some

19in number.

6

94

appear to have disappeared

from

thecollection. Theseare: Ainara inarylandica,

Amercedes

stihidirostris^Bcmbidionmilitare, Celiafer- ruginea, Celiapallida, Epipocus punctipennis,

Euuiononycha

opaca, Euplectus impressiceps, Lathropus piibescens,

Laemophloeus

^flori- danus, L. horni, L. schwarsi, Phyllopliaga suhpruinosa,Ptilium sid- catuni,Stenolophnsgracilis,Stethohariscicatricosa, Tachysoccidator, Telephanuslecontei,

Thesium

laticolle.

The

disappearance ofmostof these types^isreferredtoby Caseyin

Memoir

5,page283, 1914,andin

Memoir

8,page291, 1918.

The

types of

two

otherspecies,Colondecoris and Trichopteryxfungina,which wereatonetimethoughtby Caseyto have beenlost

(Memoir

_5,p.283, 1914,and

Memoir

11,p.155, 1924), werelocatedduringthe progress of the curatorial

work

onthecollec- tion,theformer

among

alotof small Silphidae, thelatter in theset of Acratrichis^parallela Mots. Inadditionto Casey's

own

types, the collection contains type material of 100or

more

species of various other authors.

Shortly after the public

announcement

of Casey's bequest of his collection tothe National

Museum,

tentativeplanswere

made

looking towardthe future careand upkeep ofthisnotable accession. Details of the preliminaryarrangementsthat led finally to

my

appointmentas Specialist for the Casey ^Collection of Coleoptera under the Smith- sonian Institution are outlined in the foreword to this article.

The main

objective

was

to transfer the Casey material

from

the over-

crowded

originalboxestostandard

Museum

insectdrawers, with each species segregatedinanindividual cork-lined

box

ortray. Until this transfer of material could be accomplished, the collection remained sealed, asany attemptat unrestricted study of thespecimensas they were left by Casey ^inevitably

would

have resulted in

more

or less breakage and confusion.

The

^curatorial

work was

started by the writer onApril i, 1926,and

was

continued, half adayat a time, for a period of 5years.

The

cardinal rule guiding the curatorial

work was

to preserve exactly Casey's concept of each^species. Regardlessof occasional con- flict withacceptedsynonymy,Casey'sarrangementof specimens

was

strictlyfollowed;furtherm9re,stepsweretaken tovirtuallyguarantee thepermanentpreservation ofthisarrangement,sothatstudents, both

now

and ⁱⁿ the future, will have equal assurance that before

them

stand Casey's actual original ^seriesof eachspecies,andnot ahodge- podge ^resulting

from

^accidental misplacementof specimensor inter-

'A

specimenof this species in the collectionbears a label on the back of whichappearsthisstatementinCasey's handwriting^{: "}ThetypeisinCarnegie Mus.Pittsburg."

NO. 3 CASEY COLLECTION OF

COLEOPTERA — ^BUCHANAN

7 polation oflaterandirrelevant material. Casey'sarrangement

was

in- dicatedbyattachingtoeach specimenalabel giving thespecific

name

of the speciesandits sequenceintheseries, as, mtnuu'^f^" Sinuta'^f

"

mlnuu^f"'

Each

species

was

then placed in a suitable-sized tray on which appearsthe full scientificname.

No

material is to be added tothesetrays,and noneisto be transferred, exceptin a fewspecial cases.

In addition to the ^"Casey det." and type labels, used of course only on identified material, a small pin label bearing legend ^bequest 1925

was

attachedto everyspecimeninthe collection,

named

or

unnamed.

Also, a record of all the

North American

species in the collection

was

enteredinacopyofLeng's Catalogof Coleoptera.

When

the

work

of arrangementhad beencompleted, amanuscript catalog of theentire collection

was

preparedby Miss Marie^Siebrecht, working under

my

direction, that will serve as anhistorical record for future reference should any question arise as to any of this material.

Data

in thiscatalogarearranged systematically,the order ofgeneraand familiesbeingessentiallythat of the

Leng

Catalog of

North American

Coleoptera,

The

list gives the total

number

of specimens for each species, withindication of types.

A

synopsis at theendserves asan indextothe familiesandtothe

number

ofspeci-

mens

thatthese include.

The

collectionasthusrecorded is foundto contain 19,245

named

forms, withatotal of 116,738 specimens,and

more

than9,200 holotypes.

It iswell

known

thatCaseydidnot

make

a practice of

marking

the types in his collection.

The

various terms

now

in

common

use to distinguish different categoriesof type materialwere not uniformly appliedby Caseyinhiswritings^{^}and very seldom used onthespeci-

mens

themselves.

However,

Caseydid

make

the verbal statement that the specimen bearing the

name

label

was

to beconsidered the true type,as

shown

in thisextract

from

aletterof

November

3,1927,

from

J. C.

Crawford

to Dr. Alexander

Wetmore,

Assistant Secretary, Smithsonian Institution

:

Aboutten yearsagoDr.Hopkins and Ivisited ColonelCasey at hisrequest toseebothhis collectionandthe conditions underwhich he worked. At that time both Dr. Hopkins andI complainedto Colonel Caseyof the types inthe CaseyCollection not being labeled. Colonel Casey madethe statement, which

*Memoir i, p.20, 1910, "Sexual characters are not evident in thetypes "

;

ibid., p. 122, "Thetypes are females"; ibid., p. 136, "The type is from San Diego" (four other localities mentioned); Memoir 2, p. 6, 1911, "

m

^inula

cotypes^";Memoir6,p.330, 1915,"threecotypes^".

94

hesaidwastobe regarded asofficialandforour informationincasehe should diewithoutmakinga similarstatementtootherpeople,that thespecimen bearing thename label was inall cases tobe regarded as thetrue type. To this he addedthatthe truetype wastheonlyspecimenwithwhich hewasreally con- cerned, andthat thereforewhatwecall paratypeswerenot indicated.

(Signed) J. C. Crawford.

Casey'spurposeisdisclosed,thoughlessdefinitely,as earlyas 1886, (Descriptive Notices, i, p. 162)

where

hesays, "It willbe observed thatthe descriptions referinallcasestothesingle specimenassumed as the type^", and^"Ihavepreferred, therefore, inthe existing state ofknowledge,to describeonedefinite typeandgivesuchgeneral re-

marks

as

may

indicate the variation exhibitedbythe materialathand."

The

type labeling hasbeencarriedouttorespectthisclearlystated intenton Casey'spart.

A

^special

U.S.N.M.

type label

was

attached to the labeled or firstspecimen of each of Casey's species

—

^{that is,}

where

no discrepancies between specimen and description were no- ticed

—

whereas paratypelabelswereattachedto thosespecimensevi- dentlyexamined by Caseyatthe time of theoriginal description.

A

querysign,preceding the

name

of the specieson^theparatypelabel,as Paratype

USNM

^, indicates that the specimen, though doubtless a para- 38669

type,had been set apart slightlyby Casey as possiblydistinct;while the query

mark

before the number,but not before the name, shows that thespecimen,although clearlyplacedwith the speciesbyCasey, failstomeetthe paratyperequirementsinone

way

or another.

Where

thetrue holotype could notbelocatedwithcertainty,a neotypelabel

was

used. These neotype designations, of course, have no binding value unless published,but they permitted the assignment of acata- log number, which in turn afforded a ready

means

of recording.

The

actual types of

some

of these ^"neotype^" species will certainly

come

to lightsooner or later either in the Caseycollection orin the cabinets of otherworkers or institutions. Inthe meantim.e, the neo- type label acts as a sufficient warning that this particular specimen probablyis not theoriginal type.

Certain complications in the curatorial

work

resulted

from

the inexactcitation of type localityin

some

of Casey's originaldescrip- tions. In several places Caseycitesa regionallocality

when

thelabel onthespecimenisdefinite, as,"SouthernShoreof

Lake

Michigan^"

or "

Rocky

Mountains^",

when

thelabelsthemselvesread ^"Milw.Co.

Wise." and ^"Garland Col.", respectively. Again,

we may

have the exactlocality of the second or following specimen of a series,

when

the typeitself (that is, thespecimenbearing the

name

label) carries

NO. 3 CASEY COLLECTION OF COLEOPTERA

BUCHANAN

₉

only a general or Statelabel.

An

illustrationis foundinthe staphy- linid, Datomicrasurge ns Casey.

The

type locality of this species is

given as Glenora, B. C.; the collection contains

two

specimens, the first of which, ortype,bears thelabel "Br.C",the second, or para- type," Glenora, B.C.,

Wickham

^". Inthiscase therecanbeno doubt thatthefirstexampleformedthebasisofCasey'soriginaldescription, representedinhiseyes the truetype,and by anyreasonable interpreta- tion

must

receivethetypelabel, eventhoughthespecimen, onvisible evidence, does not

come from

the stated type locality.

Any

other plan forhandlingsuch cases (andit

may

besaid that seriousthought

was

given to otherpossibilities) leads only to endless and insoluble complications. Bearingdirectly on this matterare

some

remarks by Caseyhimself inregardto

Acmaeops

variipes Casey. In

Memoir

_4, page239, 1913, he explains that ^"

The

locality Sta. Cruz Co., given under the original description of variipes (Annals N. Y.

Academy

Sciences,vol.6,p.38)

was

taken

from

aspecimenof theseriesbear- ing this definite label; others had simply ^'Cal^' as a label, one of which, thetype,Ifindhad aminutelabelconcealedbytheotherand bearing theinitials ^'

S.D

^'." In other words, Casey's original setof variipes really included three different labels, "S.D,Cal", "Cal^", and " Sta.Cruz Co."

The

original description calls for Sta.Cruz Co.

alone, but Casey 22years later positively states that the real type, (doubtless the specimen onwhich his description is based) is

from

"S D

(San Diego) Cal".

A

considerable

number

of similar dis- crepancieswere

met

with,but the

Acmaeops

sample happenstobeone that Casey

comments

onina definiteenough

way

togive an insight intooneof hisrather freemethodsoflocality citation.

Another puzzling situation

grew

out of Casey's occasional misin- terpretation of locality symbols.

For

instance,

N

Y, translated by Casey's list of localities as "Catskill

Mts

(Shokan) ^", is

more

than once confused with

N

Y, given as ^"

New York

City (Brooklyn) ^"

bythe

same

list.

Again, there are instances where Casey evidently had private in- formation as to the exact source of certain specimens that carry a State labelonly, and

we may

find "la " being published as "Cedar Rapids,

Iowa

^". Also,Casey sometimesgives thelocalityof the

same

specimen with a different degree of definiteness in successive treat- ments; for example, ^"

Pa

^" in 1900

may

be citedas ^"Philadelphia, Pa." in 1920.

One

of the

more

difficultof the curatorial problems resulted fromthe factthat Caseyoccasionally shifted the

name

label

from

the original typeto

some

other specimen in the series. Inall

observed casesof such labeltransfer the specimen bearing the

name

SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS

COLLECTIONS VOL. 94

label

was

of course not

marked

type. If the actual type could be located^it

was

so labeled;if nou,a neotypelabel

was

attached to the substitute, to serve until theholotypeis recognized.

Casey's interpolation of later material

among

his original series sometimes preventedtheassignmentofparatypelabels.

For

example, EuphorianitensCasey, described

from

10specimens

from

Texas,

was

represented in the Casey

box

by 14 examples, showing that four specimens were added later to the original lot. All the specimens except no. i andno. 3, which are unlabeled but which nevertheless are almost certainly part of theoriginal seriesof 10,bear

Texas

labels, and allexcept oneagree withthe original description. That ^is, only one exampleof the present 14canbe eliminated as a possible para- type;consequently noparatypelabels could be added. It

may

be ex- plained that Casey followed no consistent

method

of incorporating laterspecimens,sometimesplacing

them

atthe end, but oftenersome-

where

inthe middle,ofhisoriginal series.

The

curatorial

work made

no pretenseata synonymical reviewof thefield,but aimed simplyatthenecessary clearing of thegroundthat precedes critical study. Casey's individualistic methods and volumi- nouswritingshave created

many

zoologicaland nomenclatural prob- lems that can be solved onlyby the patient investigations of future students.

Many

generations

must

pass before the final verdict is reached, butinthe

meantime

itishopedthatthecollection asit

now

stands, cleared in part of confusing factors, will lend itself

more

readilyto astudy of those problems in which Casey

was

so deeply interested, and concerning which he once said: "These fields of scientific enquiry areall parts of one grand cosmos, and I cannot conceive one of

them

to be

more

soul-inspiring than another; they are all equallywonderful, equally beautiful, and equally beyond the ken of finite intellect."

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