BY THOMAS G. SLOANE. 115 



Vesture beneath joints of anterior tarsi tn <S. The vesture of the u:.ider- 

 surfaee of some of the joints of the anterior tarsi (also of the middle tai-si in 

 feome cases where the anterior tarsi are clothed beneath) has long been recog- 

 nised as an important character for the classification of the Carabidae, tut I 

 have seen no notice of its probable course of development. To have the under- 

 side of some joints of the tarsi clothed beneath is essentially a character of the 

 male; very rarely the basal joint of the female is dilatate and clothed beneath, e.g., 

 in the American genus Stenomorphus, and in the Australian species Xotonomus 

 cques Cast., and N. parallelomorphus Chaud. The vesture assumes two main 

 forms, viz., the spongiose and the biseriate forms. The spongiose vesture is 

 older than the biseriate \esture, and is that from which the latter is derived; it 

 alone is found in the Carabidae-disjuuctae ; the tribes Migadopini and Hiletini 

 of this division have four anterior tarsi dilatate and clothed beneath. Most 

 of the tribes of the Carabidae-conjunctae have the biserate form of the tarsal 

 vesture, but spongiose vesture occurs in the Broscini and Pelecini of the (^ara- 

 bidae-uniperforatae, and in the Chlaeniini, Oodini, Licinini. Agi'iini, Dryptini, 

 and Brachynini of the Carabidae-biperforatae. The Harpalini are the only tribe 

 known to me in which both the spongiose and biseriate types of tarsal ve^.ture 

 occur, and here is found the clue to the derivation of the biseriate from the 

 spongiose vesture. In the genus Amblystomus the brushes of squamae beneath 

 the joints of the four anterior tarsi are dense with a longitudinal line dividing 

 them in the middle, so that actually the squamae are arranged bilaterally. Any 

 bilateral form would have an equal number of rows of squamae on each side of 

 the joints; this can be seen in the American genus Anisotarsus, and in some 

 species of Diaplwromerus. At any decrease in the number of rows of squamae 

 which occurred, one row would go off on each side, and so the biseriate type 

 of vesture would develop. That this might be the case may be seen by ex- 

 amining Anisodactylus discoidetis Dej., a North American species, which has 

 eight rows of squamae on the second joint of the anterior tarsi, but only four 

 on the second joint of the middle tarsi. If this view of the origin of the 

 biseriate type of tarsal vesture be accepted, the fact that thjs form occurs in 

 one division of the tribe Harpalini and in the tribe Pterostichini, is to be con- 

 sidered a case of analogous variation, and not as any evidence of affinity; the 

 occurrence of spongiose tarsal vesture in the Harpalini suggests that this tribe 

 is more ancient than the Pterostichini, a tribe with only the' biseriate form. 

 Seeing that the tendency to reduction has only to be carried one step 

 beyond the biseriate fonn of vesture to result in the tarsi becoming naked be- 

 neath, it is not astonishing that naked tarsi in the male appear in all directions 

 throughout the Carabidae; genera have been proposed only on the character of 

 unclothed tarsal joints but it may be confidently asserted that this negative char- 

 acter is not of generic value. 



Umbib'cate piunctures of elytra. It seems evident that the interstices of the 

 elytra represent the longitudinal veins, and the striae the interspaces of the upper 

 wings of the insect-gToup from which the Coleoptera are derived. In the Cara- 

 bidae, on one or more of the odd interstices of the ordinary 9-striate elytron, 

 may be found sensitive setae rising from umbilicate punctures. Dr. G. H. Horn 

 has used the terms "ocellate" or "dorsal punctures" for these setigerous punc- 

 tures; but, seeing that they have often considerable taxonomic value in the fitniily 

 Carabidae, it seems necessary to have one definite and unvarying term for them: 

 the name umbilicate punctures, which has been applied to them already, might 



