jr. C. FALL 
26!) 
THE NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES OF GYRINUS 
(COLEOPTERA) 
BY H. C. l ALL 
It would 1)0 (lidicidt to find in codections of AiiK'rican ( 'ok*- 
oi)tera., a group or genus in which the species are so consistcuitly 
and completely muddled as they are in the genus here con- 
sidered. It matters little whether tlie collection be large or 
small, whether it he that of a veteran or a novice, the differ- 
(uice is only one of degree of confusion, and, with few exceptions, 
the name lal)cls might quite as well have l)ccn drawn from a 
hat, so far as accuracy of assignment is concerned. Gyrini 
occur evei-ywhere in our territory, and owing to their halnt of 
congi-egating in schools, especially in mid and late summer, 
may lx*, and usually are at one time or anotlu'r, gatlu'i'ed in 
numhers hy (‘very collector. Bid- the diflicnltic'S of separation 
and identification of material are so grc'at as to discourage 
much further effort, and he soon gives them up as a hard lot. 
They are a hard lot; there does not seem to he much to say 
about them taxonomically, and what little there is in tlu' hooks 
is of no very great assistance. 
In 1868, there app(‘ared a short pap(‘r on the ‘‘ ( lyrinidae of 
America North of Mexico” hy Dr. LeC’onte, in which the 
species are l^riefl}' characterized, hut not tahulated, except very 
broadly in groups. This paper has served as the basis for all 
subsequent references to the genus liy American authors, who 
have added nothing to the characters given t)y LoGonte. In 
the more recent ^Monograph of the Gyiinidae of the world by 
Dr. lveginil)art, our previously described sjx'cies of course* find 
a place, and two new ones — canadensis and carpnlentus — ar(‘ 
added to those listed ley LeConte. Neither of thesie species 
seems to be certainly known to American collectors, and not- 
withstanding the fact that Begimbart’s d(‘scriptions a'a* v(‘ry 
carc'fully drawn, and (evince a nice* discrimination in the s(‘lec- 
tion of those characters which a wide exieericnce shows to lx* 
most useful, the lack of table's, the scatte'i'ing of our sjxecies 
TKAXS. AM. ENT. SOC., XLVII. 
