80 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



[tibia of 1st pair of legs] ernarginate. Tarsi with the penultimate joint 

 entire. Claws single, not pectinated. 



The maxillary palpi of the genus here defined present an anomaly observed 

 in no other known coleopterous genus, they appear to be famished with a 

 minute fifth joint retractile within the fourth. In one of these palpi, in the 

 only specimen taken, this little accessory joint is not apparent, but in the 

 other it is distinctly seen emerging from the fourth joint, or rather, as this 

 last appears broken at the apex, it is uncovered. There is only one supposi- 

 tion that can reconcile this case to the general rule, that no coleopterous 

 maxillary palpus shall exceed four joints, namely — that this is an effort of 

 nature, by a reproduction, to restore the mutilated organ so as to fulfil its 

 functions. Did the insect belong to the Crustacea or ArachniJa this would 

 be a satisfactory explanation of the anomaly, but I do not recollect any 

 instance upon record of a genuine insect having reproduced a lost organ. I 

 thought it possible that the palpi of other Predaceous beetles might contain a 

 retractile joint, and this truncated apex seemed in some degree to favour the 

 idea, but I did not succeed in my endeavours to discover one. [Mr. Scudder 

 (Pro. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. xii. 99) describes the reproduction of lost limbs 

 in the Walking-Stick Insect (Diaplieromera femorata~), specimens of which 

 we have seen in his cabinet. We cannot but think that the case described 

 above by Mr. Kirby is an instance of reproduction.] 



The above structure of the palpi, if not accidental, seems to give our little 

 insect some affinity with the Subulipalpi of Latreille, but its general charac- 

 ters and aspect appear to demand a place for it somewhere between those 

 Truncipennia whose claws are not pectinated, and those who have those 

 organs so armed. 



11. Sericoda bexMBidioides, Kirby. — Plate 1, Fig. 2. — Black underneath, 

 above black-bronzed, rather silky ; prothorax subtrapezoidal, with a pair of 

 impressions behind; elytra substriated, impunctured, somewhat clouded, with 

 a series of impressions adjoining the suture. Length of body 3 J lines. Only 

 a single specimen taken. 



[16.] Body underneath black glossy; above the black has a brassy tint, 

 with somewhat of the lustre of silk : head, between the eyes, marked with a 

 short, anteriorly forked furrow : prothorax sub-trapezoidal, anteriorly sub- 

 emarginate, sides oblique with the margin reflexed, transversely very minute- 

 ly wrinkled, with a pair of anterior excavations in the disk, posteriorly also 

 somewhat impressed on each side : elytra longer than the head and prothorax 

 together, slightly furrowed with impunctured furrows, obsoletely clouded : 

 there is a series of about five shallow impressions near the suture. 

 • [Included by LeConte in the genus Platyms. Has been taken in Oregon.] 



