I DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE OF THE AMERICAN 



BYRRHIDS. 



The Byrrhidae, in the most modern arrangement of the Coleop- 

 tera, are held to form a part of a subordinal group called the 

 Dascilloidea and are connected on the one hand, by way of the 

 evidently related Dermestidae, with Cyphon and the Heteroceridae 

 and on the other, through the Rhipiceridae and Cebrionidae, with 

 the large families Elateridae and Buprestidae and finally with the 

 Ptinidae, leading thence into the Heteromera. This appears to 

 be one of the happiest strokes among the many efforts to arrive 

 at a true generalization of amnites among the very puzzling groups, 

 some clavicorn and some serricorn, of the old arrangement. Years 

 ago (Journ. N. Y. Ent. Soc., VI, 1898, p. 76) the writer alluded to 

 the fact that the Clavicornia of the old school were by no means a 

 natural aggregate, and it is with satisfaction that he finds this 

 opinion is being corroborated, though he was in all probability by 

 no means the first to offer the suggestion. 



In the following revision the Byrrhidae of LeConte and Horn are 

 restricted to the series comprising the subfamilies Byrrhinae and 

 Nosodendrinae of those authors, the genus Chelonaritim, which 

 formed another subfamily under their conception of the Byrrhidae, 

 having rather family than subfamily rank, being excluded from the 

 present discussion. Chelonarium seems to be very rare in this 

 country, but is more frequently met with in the warmer parts of 

 the continent. It is said to be arboreal in habits and not epigeal, 

 differing in this way as well as profoundly in structure from the 

 Byrrhidae proper. 



The general anatomy of the Byrrhids is outlined with sufficient 

 clearness in many comprehensive systematic works and need not 

 be repeated here. The body is oval in form and very convex, of 

 minute to moderate size and with hard integument. The Byrrhids 

 are rather numerous in species, occurring under stones and logs, 

 or more especially in the crevices between aggregated fragments 

 or in sand near water courses; they are rather slow in movement, 



T. L. Casey, M?m. Col. Ill, Feb. 1912. 



