BY THOMAS G. SLOANE. 417 



wlien the characters on which they are founded are suljmitted to 

 careful and critical investigation ; for the same reasons I have 

 been compelled to merge JVurus, I'richosternits and Loxodactylvs 

 in Homaloisoma, and Ceneus and Ojihryosternua in Prosopogmus. 

 Furthur, I may be permitted to add that, to my mind the fol- 

 lowing seem entitled to take full rank as genera, viz., Homalcr 

 soma, Prionophorus, Notolestus, Zoedera, Loxandrus, Phytisternus, 

 Pediomorphus, Darodilia, Cyphosoma and Setalis ; if this course 

 be adopted some alterations in nomenclature made by de Chau- 

 doir will have to be rescinded and the original names reverted to. 



Genus Homalosoma. 



In the present state of my views on the classification of the 

 Carabidce, I feel compelled to unite in the genus Homalosoma 

 all the Feronides of the Australian Continent which are charac- 

 terised by having the elytra with a basal border and with the 

 interstices between the striae costate. In Homalosoma the me- 

 dian tooth of the mentum may have the apex either rounded or 

 excised, but this is a character that seems of little, if any, value. 

 Homalosoma as here constituted, agrees with de Castelnau's ideas 

 of its limits, and includes Motschulsky's genus Nurus, de Chau- 

 doir's genus Loxodactylus, and part of the latter author's genus 

 Trichosiernus. Nurus seems only to be separated from Homalosoma 

 by the ^ having the anterior tarsi with two basal joints, instead 

 of three, dilatate and squamulose below, a character that I can- 

 not recognise as of more than specific importance. Trichostermis 

 seems a genus of doubtful value ; de Chaudoir ajDpears to have 

 regarded the presence of setfe on the base of the prosternum as a 

 sufficient reason for placing any Feronide in Trichosteriius, 

 though latterly, as he admitted the validity of the genus Nurus, 

 he must have thought the character of less weight ; as far as I 

 can judge it is a feature of merely specific value, and I would 

 remove from Trichostermis all the species with costate elytral 

 interstices, placing them in Homalosoma ; this would exclude 

 Trichosternus from the Australian fauna ; unless Feronia regalis, 

 Casteln., which has the base of the prosternum with a few seta?, 



