NORTH AMERICAN COLEOPTERA. 25 



The larvse before me were obtained from Beavers trapped in some 

 of the tributaries of the Colorado of Texas. The tender skin behind 

 the ears seems to be the favorite place, the larvse being concealed 

 under scales of dried material, seemingly mucilaginous. 



I owe these larvfe to the kindness of a friend who has recently 

 traveled in Texas, through whose instruction the skins were so pre- 

 pared that he was enabled to obtain what, at one time, seemed almost 

 a hopeless desire. 



The eggs of Platypsylla were also observed. They are minute 

 objects, not fastened to the hair, as is the case with lice, but placed 

 directly on the skin among the densest hair. 



When the larva are removed from the fur and placed on a flat 

 surface they move with the sinuous snake-like motion observed in 

 Staphylinide larvae. 



The fully developed beetles have also a mode of progression de- 

 cidedly Staphylinide in appearance. 



Platypsylla seems destined to have difficulty in finding a final 

 resting place. 



Ritsema, in the beginning, referred it to the Aphaniptera, an in- 

 definite aggregation of forms gradually disentegrating. 



Shortly after Prof. Westwood made it the type of a totally dis- 

 tinct order Achreloptera. 



During his sojourn in Europe Dr. LeConte obtained specimens, 

 and after the study of dissections, carefully made by Rev. A. Mat- 

 thews, claimed Platypsylla as a Coleopter of the Clavicorn series 

 and placed it in relation with Silphidae and Leptinidse. 



My own dissections and study have not caused me to doubt in any 

 respect the opinion of Dr. LeConte. 



In the " Berlin. Zeitschr." xxx, 188H, p. 103, Kolbe, in a short 

 paper, sees resemblances between the mouth parts of Platypsylla and 

 certain Mallophaga (bird lice), and is dispos d to unite it with the 

 latter series. 



Dr. A. S. Packard, in a review of the Mallophaga, considers them 

 degraded members of the pseudo-neurojiterous series. 



If we combine the opinions of the last two authors we will have 

 another position for Platypsylla in the Neuroptera (in the broad 

 sense), an order which seems destined to be the asylum for entomo- 

 logical invalids of all sorts. 



Platypsylla seems widely distributed. First discovered on the 

 American Beavers in the Zoological Gardens at Amsterdam. I have 



TRANS. AMEK. ENT. SOC. XV. (4) MARCH, 1888. 



