4 MEMOIRS ON THE COLEOPTERA 



rather deep, the sides at its ends feebly constricted; base transverse, 

 very feebly bisinuate; elytra four-fifths longer than wide, scarcely 

 more than a fourth wider than the prothorax, the sides parallel, 

 barely arcuate except basally and apically, finely, sparsely punctate 

 and with rather distinct foveae. Length (cf) 13.7 mm.; width 4.25 

 mm. California (Lassen Co.), Nunenmacher. 



cylindricus \V. Horn 



I am unable to persuade myself that any one of the above forms 

 has less than specific value and would not know how to make the 

 combinations; they are undoubtedly distinct among themselves 

 and by no means so closely allied as in some other groups, where 

 many of the forms obviously have rather less than full specific 

 weight. At first it seemed as though parvulus might be no better 

 than a subspecies of audouini, but the recent discovery of the 

 female, with its short delicate antennae and long hind tarsi, appar- 

 ently determines its specific value. 



Alluding to the general question of species in the genus Omus, 

 it is quite beyond my power of comprehension to understand how 

 any student, having within him a moderate development of the 

 sense of proportion and having before him such forms as cylin- 

 dricus* IcBvis, cribripennis, parvicollis and edwardsi, for instance, 

 could, with all their manifold peculiarities of structure and facies, 

 hold them to be of no greater taxonomic weight than mere sub- 

 ordinates of a single species. Such an opinion, I am thoroughly 

 convinced, could only arise from a misconception of the term species 

 from a pragmatic viewpoint. 



Group II (calif ornicus). 



The various units in this group hold much more truly to the 

 typical form than in the preceding and, though recognizable on 

 actual comparison, some of them may be rather difficult to decipher 

 from descriptions, however full of detail. They fall under three 

 rather distinct stem forms as follows : 



* The original name given this species was angusto-cylindricus. The infliction of 

 such unwieldy names as this and intermedia- pronolalis upon our nomenclature may 

 betray a lack of sympathetic respect for our powers of endurance in quoting them, or 

 else, perhaps, they may not be intended to be permanent in their entirety as specific 

 names. I have assumed the latter to be the correct, because the more rational, 

 assumption, and have therefore omitted the unnecessary qualifying part of these 

 hyphenated specific names. 



