Searching the Metcalf Literature Collection Database

Literature search 1741-1955

About the Database

This searchable bibliographic database provides a powerful tool for retrieving the pre-computer literature (1741-1955) on cicadas, leafhoppers, planthoppers, spittlebugs, and treehoppers. Most online databases for retrieving entomological literature cover only the literature published beginning in the late 1960s, and even then coverage is far from comprehensive (Deitz & Osegueda, 1989, Bull. Entomol. Soc. Am. 35:33-39). The present database, covering nearly 12,000 publications (including monographs and articles from more than 1760 journal titles), also serves as a catalogue of the Metcalf literature collection in the NCSU Libraries' Special Collections. There are plans to provide scanned copies of selected early works from the collection through this site.

Although the database is a work in progress, it is already a valuable resource for information on the Auchenorrhyncha. Search boxes now allow Boolean searches on user-selected keywords, authors, and dates. Auchenorrhyncha, all of which feed on plant sap or, rarely, fungi, form a major component of the world's insect fauna. Interest in the group is widespread because many species injure important crops through their feeding, egg laying, or transmission of plant diseases. Data have been entered from Metcalf's card files that when eventually implemented will allow menu-driven searches of hundreds of descriptors listed in topical, geographic, and taxonomic indexes.

As a point of access to more current literature (after 1956) users may wish to check the selected links and references provided under each major group (see menu at left).

Searching the Metcalf Literature Collection Database prepared by L. L. Deitz, S. L. Rodgers, L. A. McCormick, D. H. Westmoreland and S. H. McKamey. 1 December 2008.