REVISION OF ELEODIINT BLAISDELL. 3 



Kirby " describes Plmelia alternuta^ which is now a synonym of 

 Eleodc'H tricostata Say. After the description he says: "Mr. Say 

 says of his Plmelia {Edrotes) rotunda that it was the first of that 

 genns found on the New Continent; that above described {alteryiata) 

 furnishes therefore a vahuible addition to the American insect fauna.'' 



A brief reference to European literature shows that formerly the 

 name Pimelia had a wide application, sufficient to include even such 

 remotely related forms as Edrotes and Elcodes. 



Pimelid is a Fabrician genus now including a considerable number 

 of European species about the Mediterranean, also Northern Africa 

 and Western Asia. 



It may be interesting to the student to compare Eschscholtz's '' 

 synoptic characters of the four genera, Blajjs^ Eleodes, Xystus, and 

 Nycterinus, Avhich are as follows: 



Blaps. — TibitE ;uitic;e aiiiee hispinosa'. Anteniue articnio tortio seqnenti 

 duplo longiore, ultimo aeiiminnto, tiibns anticedentibus snb.e;lob()sis. liabiiini 

 apice latins, planum. Elytra carina laterali. Mas segmentu basaii aI)domini,s. 

 scopifero. 



Elcodes. — Autennse articnio ultimo transverso, duobus antecedcntibus, rotuu- 

 dis compressis, tertio seqnenti duplo longiore. Labium apice angustius triangu- 

 iare. Clypeus indistinctus, antice leviter emargiuatus. 



Xl/stus. — Antennae articnio ultimo transverso, duobus autecedentibus, rotundis 

 compressis, tertio seqnenti duplo longiore. Labium transversum, medio dila- 

 tatum, ai)ice rotundatum. Clypeus indistinctus, emargiuatus. 



Nyctcrinus. — Antemue articnio ultimo transverso, tribus autecedentibus com- 

 pressis, tertio seqnenti parum longiore. Labium apice latins. 



In the synopsis Tagona precedes Blaps^ and Prosodes between 

 Blaps and Eleodes^ Nycterinus between Xystiis and Amphklora. The 

 characters used are very variable. I have not had an opportunity to 

 study Nycterinus. I have a species from Northern Chile that I 

 believe belongs to, or quite close to, this genus. 



Gemminger and Harold '^ give two species of Tagona as inhabiting 

 Russia Meridionale and Turcomania ; Prosodes, Oriental Europe and 

 Western Asia ; lYyeterinus, twelve species, mostly Chilean, and Blaps 

 as very numerous in Europe, Asia, and Africa. 



r hope this work may be the forerunner of others upon the Tene- 

 brionida", and have therefore taken the opportunity to place befoi-e the 

 American student many suggestions that woidd be out of place in an 

 ordinary revision. I sincerely trust that my colleagues will continue 

 to aid me in the future as they have done in the past. 



'^ Fauna Boreali-Americana, IV, 1.S37, p. 2;!2. 

 ^Zool. Atlas, III, 182!). 

 "Catalogns Col., VII. 



