CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



33 



APPENDIX. 



HESPEROBIUM n. gen. (Pfederini), 



It is not without great difl&clence that I here propose a new 

 name for the American species which have been hitherto 

 placed in Cryptobium ; especially is this the case since the 

 South American and Mexican species have been passed over 

 almost in silence regarding their generic distinctness by Dr. 

 Sharp, and the North x4.merican forms, first by Dr. LeConte 

 and afterwards, independently, by Dr. Horn. Being moved, 

 however, by the conviction that scientific nomenclature has 

 arrived at such a stage that to longer abstain from recogniz- 

 ing and differentiating distinct generic subdivisions, can only 

 be conducive to a superficial knowledge of nature and be 

 detrimental to a scientific arrangement of the species as a 

 whole, I have concluded to make the division and give the 

 differential descriptions in the form of parallel columns, by 

 which means the chief distinctive features cfan be more 

 readily compared. 



In the following statement tlie type of Hesperobium is the 

 Calif orniau H. tiunldiim Lee, the characters of Cryptobium 

 Mann, being taken from the very thorough treatise by Mr. 

 C. Eey iTpon the Piederini (Hist! Nat. Col. Fr., 1878). 



Cryptobium. 

 Labrum short, sinuate and biden- 

 ticulate in the middle of its anterior 

 maroiu. 



3— Bull. Cal. Acap. Sct. II. 5i .• 



Hesperobium. 

 Labrum very short and broad, 

 feebly and triangularly emarginate 

 throughout its width at apex, not 

 denticulate but having in the middle, 

 at the apex of the triangular notch a 

 small rounded emargination; sides 

 strongly convergent toward the base; 

 apical angles narrowly rounded. 



Printecl January 27, 1886. 



