2 BULLETIN 63, LTNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



The first part of my task was perfectly feasible; but not so with 

 the mouth-i:>arts, on account of the necessity of mutilating the speci- 

 mens. 



The first species were named by Thomas Say in the year 1828. He 

 l^laced them in the genus Blaps. 



Eschscholtz a few years later " erected the genus Eleodes^ describ- 

 ing several species. 



Mannerheim still later ^ described a few species, redescribing some 

 of Eschscholtz's species with references to the original descriptions. 



Then followed the period between the years 1858 and 1865, the 

 most active in the making known of new species, during which Dr. 

 John L. LeConte described more species than any previous author. 

 Later a number of his species were suppressed by Dr. George Horn, 

 who from 187-1 to 1891 occasionally described new species. 



Man}^ of the species supjjressed by Doctor Horn have been restored 

 to specific standing in the present paper. Doctor Horn was too 

 conservative and his knowledge of the species was based upon char- 

 acters that were too superficial. 



Thomas L. Casey described Eleodes arcuatus in 1884; nine others 

 in 1890,'' and three more in the sixth volume of the annals of the 

 same society. 



In 1902 I described Eleodes interrupta from an anomalous speci- 

 men of E. omissa; in 1895 E. hnpotenx^ a race of armafd, and E. 

 c())ifnis, the latter no doubt being an incipient race of E. denfipes. 



LeConte's E. seriata proved to be identical with Goryi^ described 

 by Solier from Mexico. 



Lacordaire ** explains the generic term Xysta as follows : 



Le menton * * * est compose de trois parties ; nno mediane de forme 

 variable; et deux laterales en forme d'ailes, plac§es siir un plan plus interne, 

 tranchantes lateralement, et d'antant plus larges que la premiere est moins 

 develop] )e<'. Cost sur la forme de cet organe qui Esclischoltz s'etait base pour 

 diviser le genre en deux. II donnait le nem de Xysta aux especes qui ont la 

 jiartie mediane tres-developpee et arrondie en avant, et I'eservait colui d' Eleodes 

 a celles oil son bord anterieur est retreci et plus on moins triangulaire, mais il y 

 a entre ees deux formes des ])assages qui leur enleA'ent la faible valeur qu'elles 

 ])(>urraient avoir. 



In a footnote he sa^s: 



Eschsclioltz en indique (piatre esiieccs \f/nirid(i. (iii(/iil(it(i, rofxndiroJlis. sul- 

 cata] [belonging to Xysta] du Mexi(iue, mais il y er. a beaucoup d'autres, la 

 tricostata par exemple, * * * Cliez la i)]ui)art de ees especes, les ailes lat- 

 erales du menton etant petites, paraissent an jiremier coup-d'ceil, ne plus exister, 

 mais, avec un peu d'attention on les decouvre sans peine. 



«Zoo]. Atlas, 1S20-18.3:], T-V. 

 6 Bull. Moscow, 184-3. 

 c Annals N. Y. Acad. Sci., V. 

 ^ Genera, p. 149. 



