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Biologia Centrali-Americana

The Biologia Centrali-Americana, which was edited by Frederick DuCane Godman and Osbert Salvin, was published between 1879 and 1915.

The work was originally published in well over 200 parts. These parts were collected in 63 volumes. The various parts were written by experts within the subject areas covered.

Biologia Centrali-Americana

Zoology, Botany And Archaeology

Introductory Volume

Volume author: Frederick DuCane Godman

Editors: Frederick DuCane Godman and Osbert Salvin

This volume provides a retrospective introduction to the Biologia Centrali-Americana. The main sections of this volume are: a biographical sketch of Godman and Salvin describing the events that led to the publication of the work; an introduction to the geography of the area covered; and summaries of the contents of the 63 volumes that comprise the work.

Biologia Centrali-Americana

Mammalia

Volume author: Edward R. Alston

Colour plates: J.G. Keulemans, J. Smit

1879-1882

From the opening section:

One of the most striking characters of the Mammalian fauna of Central America is the presence of Monkeys, a group which, in the New World, is entirely confined to the Neotropical Region. Both the families, and six out of the ten genera, of American Monkeys are represented within our limits by at least eleven species. The existence of these animals north of the Isthmus of Panama, though long over- looked by zoologists, was recorded by several of the older voyagers, of whom William Dampier and Lionel Wafer may be specially mentioned. Some of their quaint observations seem worthy of being reproduced; and they may best be given here, as it is not always possible to determine the exact species to which they refer.

Biologia Centrali-Americana

Aves

Volume I-III: Text

Volume IV: Plates

Authors: Frederick DuCane Godman and Osbert Salvin

Colour plates: J.G. Keulemans

1879-1904

From the introduction:

The enumeration of the Aves of Mexico and Central America was commenced in September 1879 by the late Osbert Salvin and myself, and is now completed in four Volumes, three of text and one of plates. Salvin's long-continued ill-health, and sudden death in 1898, greatly retarded the conclusion of the Third Volume, which was subsequently finished by me with the assistance of Dr. R. Bowdler Sharpe and Mr. Ogilvie-Grant. On this account, too, it has been decided to abandon all idea of a Supplement, and to close the volumes as they stand. The critical examination of the large amount of additional material that has come to hand during the progress of publication, and the analysis of the extensive literature on the subject issued in recent years, could only have been dealt with satisfactorily with the assistance of Salvin himself, and I am reluctantly compelled to leave this portion of the subject untouched. It may be noted, however, that the additions are mainly amongst the Passeres, which were completed in 1892. The physical features of the whole region are described in the Preface to the Lepidoptera Ehopalocera, concluded in 1901, and in the Appendix to the Botany, published in 1887, and need not be again repeated here. This Introduction will therefore be chiefly devoted to some remarks on geographical distribution, to the journeys made by us in Central America, and the sources from which our material has been obtained, concluding with a Table showing the distribution of the Families and Species as arranged in this work. To make this latter as complete as possible, the additional countries whence specimens were subsequently received are, however, specially indicated.

Biologia Centrali-Americana

Reptilia and Batrachia

Volume author: Albert C.L.G. Gunther

1885-1902

From the introduction:

More than fifteen years have elapsed since the first sheets of this Volume of the Biologia Centrali-Americana were published. The slow progress of the work was due partly to the demand made upon the author's time by other, chiefly official duties, and partly to the anticipation of receiving important additions to the material that was then available at the British Museum, and which included the rich collections brought home by Salvin, and later by Godman, from Guatemala and Mexico. A staff of collectors was at work for the Biologia in various parts of Central America, and they had received instructions from the Editors to pay attention to Reptiles and Batrachians, besides the special branches to which they devoted themselves principally. To wait as long as possible for the result of these instructions seemed to be all the more desirable as the great work of the Mission Scientifique au Mexique et dans l'Amerique Centrale, in which the Herpetology was entrusted to the able hands of M. Bocourt, was in course of publication, and, like the numerous important contributions by the late Mr. Cope, contained a multitude of forms not represented in the English collections.

Biologia Centrali-Americana

Pisces

Volume author: C. Tate Regan

1906-1908

From the introduction:

There is a considerable literature dealing with the fresh-water fishes of Mexico and Central America, but our knowledge of them must still be regarded as very incomplete. The fact that not a single fresh-water fish has yet been described from the Republic of Honduras, or from Nicaragua north and east of the Great Lakes, may be instanced in support of this. The following account is based on the material in the British Museum; the diagnoses of the sub-orders and families in the systematic part are intended only to apply to their Mexican and Central-American representatives; in all cases synopses of the genera and species are presented in the form of keys, and sufficient references are given for the verification of determinations thus effected. Detailed descriptions and full synonymies are given only in the case of groups which appear to need revision and which are well represented in the British Museum. True fresh-water fishes and also marine fishes which are known to ascend rivers beyond the influence of the tides are included: thus, in addition to the problems of the distribution of nearctic and neotropical types in this area, that of the differentiation of the marine faunas of the Atlantic and Pacific coasts is dealt with to a certain extent.

Biologia Centrali-Americana

Land And Freshwater Mollusca

Volume author: Prof. Eduard Von Martens

1890-1901

From the introduction:

More than ten years ago, chiefly at the invitation of my friend Dr. P.L. Sclater, I undertook the task of compiling the Volume on the Land and Freshwater Mollusca for the Biologia Centrali-Americana. It is almost needless to say that the work has taken me much longer than I anticipated, notwithstanding the previous labours of P. Fischer and H. Crosse, H. Strebel, and myself on the Molluscan fauna of the same region. Many species obtained by our editors, as well as by others in the Berlin Museum, or sent to me by various friends and collectors, required further examination; and when thia Volume was commenced the Mollusques of the Mission Scientifique au Mexique et dans l'Amerique Centrale and the Beitrag zur Kenntiss der Fauna mexikanischer Lend-und Susswasser-Conchilen were only in course of publication. Official occupation, too, at the berlin Museum took up nearly all my time, so that I could bestow very little more than my leisure hours on this work; but I have had at my disposal the rich collection of shells and the valuable library belonging to the 'Museum fur Naturkunde'.

Biologia Centrali-Americana

Arachnida: Araneidea

Vol I: Araneidea

Vol. II: Araneidea and Opiliones

Volume author: Octavius Pickard-Cambridge

Vol I: 1889-1902, Vol II: 1897-1905

From the introduction:

In dealing with the Central-American Araneidea, the subject was divided (see footnote to page 1) into two parts: I. To include descriptions and figures of those species considered to be new to science, taken according to my own convenience and other circumstances; and II. A systematic list of all the species known to occur within the region, with their geographical distribution. So far as this arrangement has been carried out, the present volume contains the species worked out by myself, according to the two appended Lists; (i) a systematic list of the new species described and figured numbering 417; and (ii) a list of those species identified by myself as already known, numbering 139. The volume contains 309 pages of letterpress and thirty-nine coloured plates, the drawings for which have been prepared by Mr A.T. Hollick, and transferred to stone by Mr E. Wilson.

Biologia Centrali-Americana

Arachnida Acaridea

Volume author: Prof. Otto Stoll

1886-1893

From the introduction:

Compared with the work that has been done in Europe upon the Arachnida Acaridea from the time of the classical writers, Linnaeus, De Geer, Hermann, and Latreille, up to that of Duges, Koch, Nicolet, P. Kramer, Megnin, Michael, Neuman, Berlese, Canestrini, Nalepa, and many others, the American literature of this group of animals is exceedingly scanty. Thomas Say (1821), one of the first entomologists in the United States, paid some attention to this neglected group. Later on (1836), Dana and Whelpley, as well as Haldeman (1842), described and figured some North-American species of Hydrachnidse. In our times we meet with the well-known names Riley and Packard in American Acarids of various group and Mr. Harry Garman has published a paper on the Phytoptidse. In 1886, Messrs. Herbert Osborn and Lucien M. Underwood gave a Preliminary List of the Species of Acarina of North America in the Canadian Entomologist. In Mexico, M. Alfred Duges has published several valuable articles on various species of Acarids inhabiting that country, and M. Conil in Buenos Ayres has done the same for some species of the Argentine Republic.

Biologia Centrali-Americana

Arachnida: Scorpiones, Pedipalpi, and Solifugae

Volume author: Reginald Innes Pocock

1902

Biologia Centrali-Americana

Chilopoda and Diplopoda

Volume author: Reginald Innes Pocock

1910

Biologia Centrali-Americana

Insecta: Coleoptera

Vol I, Pt 1: Henry Walter Bates, 1881-1884

Vol I, Pt 2: David Sharp, 1882-1887

Vol II, Pt 1: David Sharp, Rev Andrew Matthews, George Lewis, 1887-1905

Vol II, Pt 2: Henry Walter Bates, 1886-1890

Vol III, Pt 1: Charles O. Waterhouse, Dr. G. Horn, George C. Champion, 1882-1897

Vol III, Pt 2: Rev Henry Stephen Gorham, 1880-1886

Vol IV, Pt 1: George C. Champion, 1884-1893

Vol IV, Pt 2: George C. Champion, 1889-1893

Vol IV, Pt 3: David Sharp and George C. Champion, 1889-1911

Vol IV, Pt 4: George C. Champion, 1902-1906

Vol IV, Pt 5: George C. Champion, 1905-1909

Vol IV, Pt 6: David Sharp, W.F.H. Blandford and Karl Jordan, 1895-1907

Vol IV, Pt 7: George C. Champion, 1909-1910

Vol V: Henry Walter Bates and David Sharp, 1879-1886

Vol VI, Pt 1: Martin Jacoby, 1880-1892

Vol VII: Rev Henry Stephen Gorham, 1887-1899

The 16 volumes include around 350 plates, most of which are coloured, by W. Purkiss, E. Wilson, M. Freiherr von Schlereth, M. H. Fisher, G. Saunders, and probably others.

Biologia Centrali-Americana

Insecta: Hymenoptera

Vol I: Tenthredinidae-Chrysididae

Vol. II: Possores

Vol. III: Formicidae

Volume author: Peter Cameron (I & II), Prof. Auguste Forei (III)

Vol I: 1883-1900, Vol II: 1888-1900, Vol III: 1899-1900

From the introduction to volume I:

This Volume includes an enumeration of the species of fifteen Families of Hymenoptera: four of the section Sessiliventria - Tenthredinidae, Oephidae, Siricidae, and Oryssidae; and eleven of Petioliventria - Cynipidae, Figitidae, Chalcididae, Ichneumonidae, Braconidae, Stephanidae, Evaniidae, Trigonalidae, Pelecinidae, Proctotrupidae, and Chrysididae. It was commenced by Mr. Cameron in 1883, and concluded in 1888, a brief supplement containing a list of the species described or recorded by him elsewhere from Central America having been added last year. The material examined was mostly from Guatemala or the State of Panama, but little from Mexico having been received by us at that time; hence very few of the numerous Mexican forms of Ichneumonidae, &c, described by North-American writers were represented in our collection. Since then Mr. H. H. Smith has obtained for us a vast number of specimens from Mexico of nearly all the above-mentioned Families; it is, however, quite impossible for us to deal with this immense amount of additional material now, which would necessitate a fresh study of the entire subject and a revision of the whole work. We are therefore reluctantly compelled to close this Volume as its stands, and trust that Mr. Cameron's "Contribution," incomplete as it must be as regards the total number of species inhabiting the region under investigation, has added considerably to our knowledge of these interesting insects.

Biologia Centrali-Americana

Insecta: Lepidoptera, Rhopalocera

Volume I-II: Text

Volume III: Plates

Authors: Frederick DuCane Godman and Osbert Salvin

1879-1901

From the introduction to volume I:

The completion of the Volumes dealing with the very rich Rhopalocerous fauna of Mexico and Central America has been inordinately delayed from various causes - the constant pressure of other work, the ever-increasing amount of material, the gradually failing health and subsequent death of my colleague, Osbert Salvin, and the great difficulty of dealing with the Hesperiidae. Salvin, however, lived long enough to help me conclude all but the Pamphilinae and the latter part of the Supplement. The difficulty with the Hesperiidae was, in a measure, solved, in 1893, by the publication of Watson's classification of that family, and our arrangement of the Pyrrhopyginae and Hesperiinae is mainly based on that author's system; the Pamphilinae, however, were left unfinished, and but little use could be made of his work on these insects. Moreover, on commencing our study of the Hesperiidae we found it necessary to dissect and examine the genitalia of the males of various critical species; and this led us to continue the process to the whole of them, a work requiring much time, but amply repaid by the results, as may be seen by a reference to our Plates. As an instance of the importance of these characters, we may note that in Thanaos several of the species are absolutely inseparable by external peculiarities, but markedly different in their genital structure.

Biologia Centrali-Americana

Insecta: Lepidoptera, Heterocera

Volume I, II: Text

Volume III: Plates

Volume IV: Text and plates

Authors: Herbert Druce (I to III), Lord Walsingham (IV)

Vol I to III: 1881-1900

Vol. IV: 1902-1915

From the introduction to volume I:

The three Volumes of the Lepidoptera Heterocera of the Central-American fauna now completed deal with twenty-eight Families of this Order of Insects. Vol. I. extends to the end of the Deltoids; Vol. II. to the end of the Pyralidse, with the Supplement and Appendix; Vol. III. includes the Plates only. The Micro-Lepidoptera are being dealt with by Lord Walsingham in Volume IV. The twenty-eight Families worked out by me may be analysed thus: - The Sphingidse are represented by 135 species, forty-six of which are peculiar to our region; of the remainder, fifteen have also been recorded from North America and several have a very wide range in South America. The Castniidee include twenty species, ten of which, so far as at present known, are peculiar to Central America; six inhabit Mexico, and one of them is recorded also from the United States. The South-American forms are much more numerous.

Biologia Centrali-Americana

Insecta: Diptera

Volume I: Baron C.R. Osten Sacken, 1886-1901

Volume II: Frederick Maurits Der Wulp, 1888-1903

Colour and black and white plates: F. M. van der Wulp, J. E. Collin

From the introduction to volume I:

The first portion of this Volume of Diptera, pp. 1-216, dealing with the Families Cecidomyiidae - Empidae, was contributed by Baron C. E. Osten Sacken, and published in 1886-87. The Supplement, pp. 217-376, is based mainly on the collections made for us in Mexico, in 1888-89, by Mr. and Mrs. Herbert H. Smith. This large amount of additional material has been worked out by well-known American Dipterists, the Families Mycetophilidae - Asilidae (there were no additional specimens of Cecidomyiidae, Blepharoceridae, Chiromyzidae, or Xylophagidae) by Professor S. W. Williston, the Dolichopodidae (of which we had scarcely any representatives previously) by Professor J. M. Aldrich, and the Empidae by Professor W. M. Wheeler and Mr. A. L. Melander. On pages 377-378 a list of the species recorded from Mexico or Central America since 1887, and not identified or mentioned in the Supplement, is given, some of which may possibly prove to have been here described by Prof. Williston under other names. Amongst these insects is a species of Psychodidae, not a single representative of this family having been received by us. The six coloured Plates have all been prepared by Mr. Wilson of Cambridge, from drawings made by the late F. M. van der Wulp, or (the Dolichopodidae) by Mr. J. E. Collin of Newmarket. The index to the three Volumes of this subject will be inserted at the end of the last one, when completed.

Biologia Centrali-Americana

Insecta: Rhynchota, Hemiptera-Heteroptera

Volume I: W.L. Distant, 1880-1893

Volume II: G.C. Champion, 1897-1901

From the introduction to volume I:

This volume is devoted to the description and enumeration of five Families belonging to the Heteropterous portion of the Order Ehynchota, viz. the Pentatomidae, Coreidse, Lygseidse, Pyrrhocoridse, and Capsidse, as found in Central America. Aided principally by the collections made so exhaustively by Mr. Champion in Guatemala and the State of Panama, and by Mr. H, H. Smith in Mexico, supplemented by the collections of many other naturalists, I have been able to study a wealth of material illustrating a restricted fauna such as is very seldom amassed, and has doubtless never been surpassed.

This Volume contains an enumeration of the species of the following Families of Rhynchota-Heteroptera-Tingitidae, Phymatidae, Aradidae, Hebridae, Hydrometridae, Henicocephalidae, Reduviidae, Nabidae, Anthocoridae, Ceratocombidae, Cimicidae, Saldidae, Pelogonidae, Gelastocoridae (Galgulidae), Nepidae, Naucoridse, Belostomidae, Notonectidae, and Corixidae. The first twelve of these belong to the Gymnocerata (Geocorisae), concluding that portion of the work contributed by Mr. Distant in Vol. I., and the remainder to the Cryptocerata (Hydrocorisae).

Biologia Centrali-Americana

Insecta: Rhynchota, Hemiptera-Homoptera

Volume I: W.L. Distant and Rev W.W. Fowler, 1881-1905

Volume II: Rev W.W. Fowler and Prof T.D.A. Cockerell, 1894-1909

From the introduction to volume I:

This Volume is devoted to the enumeration of eight families of Homoptera - the Cicadidae, Fulgoridae, Flatidae, Derbidae, Cixiidae, Achilidae, Issidae, and Delphacidae; the first two have been dealt with by Mr. W. L. Distant and the remainder by Canon Fowler. Altogether 323 species are enumerated, of which 208 are treated as new, with twenty-five new genera. The other families of Homoptera are reserved for Vol. II. of this series, and considerable progress has already been made with them. The Index to the two volumes will be given at the end of Vol. II. Of the thirteen coloured Plates accompanying Vol. I., six have been drawn by Mr. Purkiss and the remainder by Mr. Wilson.

Part 1 of this Volume contains Canon Fowler's enumeration of four families of Homoptera - the Membracidae, Cercopidae, Tettigoniidae, and Gyponidae..... Part 2 of this Volume includes the enumeration of the families Aleurodidae and Coccidae by Professor T. D. A. Cockerell.

Biologia Centrali-Americana

Insecta: Orthoptera

Volume I: Dr Henri De Saussure, 1893-1899

Volume II: Lawrence Bruner, Albert P. Morse and Robert Shelford, 1900-1909

From the introduction to volume I:

The enumeration of the species of the five Families of Orthoptera here dealt with having already extended to 458 pages, with twenty-one Plates, it has been decided to treat the two remaining families, the Acridiidae and the Phasmidae, in a separate volume. All the arrangements for the publication of the present volume have been entirely under the control of Dr. Henri de Saussure, of Geneva, who, on account of his failing eyesight, has been obliged to give up the remainder of the work. The Forficulidae have been worked out by Count de Bormans alone. The Blattidae and Mantidae by Dr. Henri de Saussure, in collaboration with Dr. Leo Zehntner. The Gryllidae by Dr. H. de Saussure alone. The Locustidae by Dr. H. de Saussure, with the assistance of M. Alphonse Pictet.

This Volume includes the enumeration of the species belonging to the families Acridiidae and Phasmidae.

Biologia Centrali-Americana

Insecta: Neuroptera

Rev A.E. Eaton and Philip P. Calvert

1892-1908

Biologia Centrali-Americana

Botany

Vol. I to IV: Text

Vol. V: Plates

W. Botting Hemsley

Colour and black and white plates: W.H. Fitch, C.O. Salvin, Mrs O. Salvin

1879-1888

From the preface:

When this work was commenced, a little more than twelve years ago, the main object in view was the collection of the widely scattered data bearing upon the phytogeography of the region, in order to ascertain to what extent the phenomena agreed with, or deviated from, those obtaining in the Animal Kingdom, and also to supply as complete a synopsis of the flora as possible, so that its general character, relationships, and connections might be critically elaborated. Nevertheless, it was hoped that it would at the same time prove a substantial and useful contribution to Systematic Botany ; and as the work proceeded greater attention was bestowed upon this branch of the subject, so that ultimately it grew far beyond the dimensions originally laid down. As this great task was undertaken by one person, it was necessary to keep it within limits as narrow as were consistent with the aim in view, to ensure a reasonable prospect of its being completed. A critical determination of the vast amount of material in the Kew Herbarium alone was out of the question, to say nothing of the supplemental collections in other establishments; yet it was difficult to decide where to draw the line. At first it was thought practicable to include the named materials at Kew, the British Museum, and Paris - the first forming a wide and trustworthy basis for genera, and largely also for species, resulting from the labours of Bentham and Hooker, in connection with their now happily completed invaluable 'Genera Plantarum'; but this plan had to be abandoned in consequence of the risk of confusion arising from diverse determinations in the various herbaria; and it was decided not to attempt doing more than could be accomplished at Kew

Biologia Centrali-Americana

Archaeology

Text: Vols. I to III

Plates: Vols I to IV

A.P. Maudslay

1889-1902

From the preface:

My first journey through the Central-American forests in search of the ruins of ancient Indian towns, during the winter of 1882-83, was merely a journey of curiosity, and I had no intention whatever of making a study of American archaeology. How- ever, the interest awakened by the sight of the truly wonderful monuments which it was my good fortune to behold induced me to undertake other and better-equipped expeditions, and the kindly encouragement and splendid liberality of the Editors of the Biologia Centrali-Americana led to the results of my journeys being published in the present form. I was at a loss to know how best to make use of my notes and collections, when Mr. Godman kindly offered to relieve me of all the expense of printing and the reproduction of plates, and to publish my work as an addition to the Biologia Centrali-Americana, if I would supply all necessary photographs, drawings, and plans, and a written memoir. I was naturally delighted to accept this generous offer, and from that day to this every assistance and the most valuable advice has been afforded me by my Editors, and the work has gone on without a hitch. I am glad to have this opportunity of thanking Mr. Godman for his unfailing patience and kindness during the many years over which the publication has extended, and to offer him my condolence on the loss of his co-editor and lifelong friend, Mr. Osbert Salvin, whose kindly nature endeared him to all, and by whose sound judgment and sympathetic advice I have been guided and encouraged for so many years