369 



H. S. Barber, and Mr. Samuel Henshaw for assistance in locating 

 obscure references and references in rare and relatively inaccessible 

 publications, and to Mr. A. N. Caudell, for assistance in solving many 

 of the difficult nomenclatural problems encountered in the course of 

 the work. 



And, finally, the writer wishes to acknowledge his particular in- 

 debtedness to Mr. E. A. Schwarz, for many invaluable suggestions 

 and data relating to PhyllopJiaga, drawn from a wealth of entomolog- 

 ical knowledge and experience that is probably unsurpassed. 



The name Phyllophaga was proposed by Thaddeus W. Harris in 

 1826, in the follovv^ing words: "The genus Melolontha as constituted 

 by Fabricius contains a vast number of species, differing greatly in 

 external appearance, and somewhat in modes of life. Fabricius de- 

 scribes 149 species, and Schoenherr, after separating those which con- 

 stitute the modern genera Anisonyx, Glaphyrus, Amphicoma. Rutela. 

 and Hoplia, enumerates 226 species of Melolontha, to which additions 

 are constantly making from the discovery of new species. Hence the 

 genus requires further subdivision. The bases of these subgenera 

 have been pointed out by Latreille, Knoch, and Schoenherr, and some 

 have alreadv been established. I would restrict the name of Melolontha 

 to those species which have more than three lamella? to the club of the 

 antennae, like the vulgaris of Europe, and of which we have an in- 

 digenous example in the M. decimlineata of Say (M. occid en talis 

 Herbst ?). Our coiuuwn species quercina, hirsuta, hirticula, balia, 

 and sonic others might receive the generic name l^hyllophaga* M. 

 vespertina, sericea, and iricolor would form another subgenus which 

 might be called Stilbolemma, unless they are included in Serica Mac- 

 Leay, or Omaloplia of Megerle; the characters of their genera I have 

 not seen. M. pilosicollis, longitarsa, and nwesta of Knoch and Say 

 should each constitute a subgenus. The latter (with M. sordida and 

 frondicola Say?) belongs to Kirby's genus Apogonia. From the 

 singular manner in which the nails are divided at tip, I would call 

 the linearis of Schoenherr Dichelonyx." (Massachusetts Agricultural 

 Journal and Repository, Vol. X (1826), p. 6, note.) 



Of the other two names referred to at the beginning of this article, 

 Ancylonycha Dejean was first used in 1833 (Catalogue des Coleop- 

 teres de la collection de M. le Comte Dejean), while Lachnostcrna 

 Hope was not coined until 1837 (Hope, The Coleopterist's Manual, 

 containing the Lamellicorn Beetles of Linnaeus and Fabricius). 



Le Conte was familiar with all three of these names, but he re- 

 jected both Phyllophaga Harris and Ancylonycha Dejean, and adopted 



*Itali('s by present author. 



