The work is monographic in the sense that it includes amplified descriptions of the genera and species of previous authors and new species descriptions, thereby presenting a complete account of what was then known of the "Chalcidites". Works examined and cited are by : the German entomologist and zoologist Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger, the Swedish physician and naturalist Johan Wilhelm Dalman, the Italian Entomologist Maximilian Spinola and the English entomologists John Obadiah Westwood and John Curtis. The descriptions required the collection,study and often the dissection of a large number of specimens.