Goleo^jterological Notices, VI. 457 



tioned in the tables given below or in the notes under the various 

 generic headings. It should be stated, however, that the reason 

 for the enormous proportion of new species here proposed, is to 

 be found in the fact that the family has been almost totally neg- 

 lected by s^'stematists in this country for about thirty years, 

 and that at the date of the last synopsis b^^ LeConte, the exti'eme 

 western countr}', where these forms particularh' abound, had been 

 scarcely explored in even a superficial manner. A very large 

 number of new species will still have to be described by future 

 investigators, for, at the present time eveiy collection, however 

 small, made in those regions with their numerous local faunas, is 

 made up to a considerable extent of nondescripts. 



The Mel^'ridjB may be divided into two very unequal subfam- 

 ilies, as follows : — 



Maxillary palpi cylindrical, the fourth joint pointed; eyes finely faceted and 

 nude; tarsi with short stiff and inconspicuous hairs beneath Melyein^ 



Maxillary palpi longer and much more developed, with the last joint 

 large and triangular ; eyes very coarsely faceted and setose ; tarsi with long 

 dense hairs beneath Eh ADALINJE 



The second of these subfamilies is composed at present of only 

 two species, constituting the genus Rhadalus of LeConte, while 

 the first pi'obably numbers several hundred in the United States 

 alone. 



Melyrin.e. 



The Melyrinas can be divided into two tribes, which however 

 possess rather less than the usual tribal weight, as follows : — 



Basal joint of the tarsi longer than the second, the tarsal claws generally 



appendiculate D ASYTIN i 



Basal joint slightly shorter than the second; tarsal claws not appendiculate. 



Melyrini 



Dasytini. 



In distributing the multitudinous species of this tribe among 

 numerous genera, the principal taxonomic elements employed re- 

 fer, first, to the form, extent and position of the elytral epipleurse, 

 their plane being either horizontal, reflexed or inflexed, that is 

 turned upward externally or internally respectively ; secondly, to 

 the extent and conformation of the submembranous ungual ap- 

 pendages, and thirdly, to the presence or absence of external 

 spines on the anterior tibiie. Other characters are occasionally 



