A MONOGRAPHIC REYISION OF THE COLEOPTERA 



BELONOmO TO THE TENEBRIONIDE TRIBE 



ELEODIINI BHABITING THE UNITED 



STATES, LOWER CALIFORNIA, AND 



ADJACENT ISLANDS. 



By Frank E. Blaisdell, Sr., 



Of tian 1" rnncisco, California. 



IXTKODT/CTION. 



Since the publication of the Revision of the Tenebrionidse " no 

 attempt has been i ide to treat the Eleodiini in a revisional \\'av. 

 Material has been constantly accumulating in collections, until it has 

 become a very perplexing problem to refer it in all instances to species 

 already named, or to correlate the numerous variations so evident in 

 many species. 



At first I had intended to simply deal with the species of the 

 genus Eleodes^ but little bj^ little I was induced to include all of the 

 genera constituting the tribe as limited by previous authorities. 



My method has been radically different from any heretofore pur- 

 sued in the United States and it has been a laborious one. In the 

 following ])ages I have set forth the results of my investigations 

 and deductions which have been carried on during past five years. 

 About one thousand specimens have been dissected during this time 

 and over five thousand studied superficially. 



I became convinced from the results previously arrived at by other 

 Avriters on the family that all methods resorted to had been inade- 

 quate for the proper understanding of species that are so polvmor- 

 phouB and present such a communit}^ of habitus. 



I decided to carry on a study along the lines of primary sexual 

 characters, and if possible to investigate the mouth-parts and then 

 to correlate the data obtained with characters already known. 



"Amer. riiil. Soc, XIY. 

 59780— Bull. 63—09 1 



