367 



All of the types of North American species known still to be in 

 existence have been located, and as far as possible all determinations 

 fiave been verified by studies of the genital characters in the actual 

 type specimens. The writer has personally dissected and remounted 

 all of the type specimens of this group in American museums, and has 

 carefully studied and sketched the genital characters in these types. 

 The Burmeister types, which belong to the museum of the University 

 at Halle, were sent by Dr. Otto Taschenberg to the University of 

 Illinois, to be remounted and studied by the writer ; while the re- 

 maining types in foreign museums were remounted by members of 

 the respective museum staffs, and carefully prepared drawings of the 

 genital structures sent to the University of Illinois for use in the 

 present studies. 



Of the types not yet known to the writer, either directly or through 

 drawings of the genital characters prepared for these studies, those 

 of the earlier authors apparently have been lost, while those of the 

 more recent authors are in private collections that have not yet 

 been conveniently accessible. The species of the latter group, however, 

 are all well known to the writer, while, fortunately, those of the first 

 group usually are so strongly marked in one way or another as to 

 leave little doubt that they have been correctly identified. 



It is needless to say that the results reported here would have been 

 impossible but for the uniform courtesy, the hearty encouragement, 

 and the ready assistance that have been experienced from the begin- 

 ning of these studies. Permission to dissect priceless type specimens 

 has everywhere been freely granted, and numerous collectors have 

 generously cooperated in the work. Full acknowledgments will be 

 made in a later paper, but it would be out of place to present even 

 these preliminary results without naming the men who primarily have 

 made this work possible. 



Preeminent among these, the writer deems it an honor, as it is a 

 pleasure, to acknowledge his profound indebtedness to Dr. S. A. 

 Forbes. Dr. Forbes generously placed at his disposal all of the col- 

 lections of "May beetles" (over 100,000 specimens) and all of the 

 data relating to the group which belong to the Office of the Illinois 

 State Entomologist and to the Illinois State Laboratory of Natural 

 History; through a special commission for the State Entomologist's 

 Office, Dr. Forbes made it possible for the writer to visit all of the 

 American museums where types of Phyllophaga are deposited, and 

 he lent his influence to aid in securing the privilege of making dis- 

 sections of these type specimens; and, finally, while in Europe, after 



