102 AMERICAN COLEOPTERA. 



upon which we must often depend for the separation of closely allied 

 forms. It is certain that many of their species can never be identi- 

 fied without an examination of the types, a possibility so remote, 

 even if they be in existence, that it is believed better to risk the cre- 

 ation of a few synonyms in the attempt to establish order, than to 

 leave t he family indefinitely in obscurity. 



The materia] which has served as the basis of this revision com- 

 prises, besides my own, the Horn, Hubbard and Schwarz, Wick- 

 ham, Blanchard, National Museum and Cambridge Museum collec- 

 tions, supplemented by typical specimens of many European species 

 from Reitter and Belon. My heartiest thanks are due to the owners 

 or curators of the above collections for the service thus rendered. 

 Especial mention should be made of the Hubbard and Schwarz col- 

 lection, which alone comprises about 1000 specimens, and is by 

 far the richest accumulation of Lathridiidse in this country. For 

 the privilege of studying it in its entirety and at my leisure, Mr. 

 Schwarz with great kindness undertook the labor of transferring to 

 suitable boxes, packing and shipping to me this collection, and this 

 at a time when seriously incapacitated by ill health. I wish also to 

 express especial appreciation of the rare kindness of Mr. Belon, who 

 has forwarded to me for examination his unique types of Enicmus 

 rm-ihttiis and E. jerrugineus, and who has also sent me his excellent 

 monograph of the Lathridiidte of France, and contributed gener- 

 ously to my cabinet. 



In its general features the following arrangement of genera is nearly 

 in accord with that adopted by Belon; the discovery, however, of 

 hitherto unobserved characters, or the different estimate placed upon 

 others, has resulted in a certain amount of deviation from the lines 

 there followed. The reasons for these changes are, I believe, in all 

 cases set forth, and their adoption or rejection is left to the judg- 

 ment of those for whom the work is prepared. 



flie simple outline sketches on the accompanying plates have been 

 drawn for the most part with the aid of the camera Iucida, and it is 

 hoped they will prove of material assistance in the identification of 

 species. Many details regarding form and relative dimensions of 

 parts have been omitted or abbreviated in the descriptions in the 

 belief that such information may lie more quickly and satisfactorily 

 obtained from a figure than by the perusal of a labored description. 

 In a review of a strictly faunal nature like the present, it is 

 probably not necessary to state, yet it i- important to bear in mind, 



