NORTH AMERICAN COLEOPTERA. fi9 



Revision of the CUCUJIDAi: of America North of i^exico. 



By Thos. L. Casey, Lieut, of EH<i;'r.s., II. S. A. 

 Introductory Note. 



The following revision has occupied all the time which I could con- 

 veniently spare from my professional duties for the past four months, and 

 has involved more labor than I anticipated. My design was to "-ive de- 

 scriptions and figures, — drawn as carefully as possible from the insects 

 themselves, — of every species known to our fauna, not only in order to 

 facilitate the identification of cabinet specimens, but to show as plainly as 

 possible the wonderful and very varied structures to be met with in this 

 group of genera. I trust that my objects have been accomplished with 

 at least partial success. 



The descriptions of genera have for the greater part been drawn from 

 Lacordaire's Genera des Coleopt^res, with such additions and adaptations 

 as were found necessary for our species. The general scope of the family 

 is that given in the classification of the Col. of N. A. by Drs. LeConte 

 and Horn. The synonymy of Jlemipeplus has been drawn from Dr. 

 Horn's paper on that subject. The position of the genus Ndrt/ica'tm at 

 the head of the Cucujinae was first proposed by Mr. Crotch in some 

 unpublished manuscript notes ; the same distinguished entomologist also 

 recommends the fusion of Si/vanns and JVaiisi/jii('<, but I think unneces- 

 sarily. 



I have to give my most sincere thanks to Drs. LeConte and Horn, as 

 well as to Mr. K. A. Schwarz for the unlimited use of their cabinets and 

 libraries. 



As is well known it has long been a disputed question whether the Sil- 

 vaninae properly form a part of the Cucujidae or Cryptophagidae, but as 

 the group possesses characters common to both and, as it were, forms a 

 connecting link between them, it is a matter of very little importance to 

 which family we attach it. The differential characters, however, do not 

 appear to me to be sufficiently important to warrant us in considering 

 them a distinct family. 



As at present organized, therefore, we have the following general 

 characters : 



(18) 



