26 THE entomologist's record. 



Lameere diagnoses them and divides the species up among them ; he 

 also gives in tabulated form a resume of the genealogy of the groups 

 under these names, and, having shown the value of all this detailed 

 work, and the relationships of the groups, sinks the names entirely as 

 subgenera, so that we read — 



Genus: DERANCISTRUS, Serville. 

 Subgenus : Pkosternodes, Thorns. 



Species : Derancistrus cinnamipennis, Chevrolat. 

 Denmcistrus oberthiiri, Gahan. 

 Derancistrus scutellatus, Galiaii. 

 Subgenus : Deeancisteus, Serville. 



Species : Derancistrus anthraciniis, Gahan. 



Derancistrus elegans, Pal. de Beauv. 

 Subgenus : Solenopteka, Serville. 



Species : Derancistrus thoniae, Linne. 



Derancistrus parandro'ides, Lameere. 

 Derancistrus hilineatus, Fab. 

 Derancistrus canaliculatus, Fab. 



etc., etc., etc. That is Derandatrun, Serville, whilst standing 

 for the naturally restricted genus, containing anthraciniis and 

 elegans, is also maintained for the whole of the species in the 

 group, in order to maintain the necessary binomial nomenclature 

 to include this name, and thus, in the Catalogue, the whole of this 

 natural grouping is lost. Lameere's diagnoses show distinctly 

 that t'rosternodes, Thoms., Derancistrus, Serv., Solenoptera, 

 Serv., Holonotns, Thorns., Elateropsis, Chevr., and Sphenostethus, Hald., 

 are sound sections, and that Solenoptera, Serv., does not = Derancistrus, 

 Serv., yet, instead of giving these proper generic rank as sections of 

 the tribe Derancistridi — he calls the tribe the genus, gives one of the 

 included generic names a double meaning, and then loses the proper 

 genera under the sunken titles of subgenera. What Lameere's classi- 

 fication really shows is — 



Tribe: DERANCISTRIDI (-DERANCISTRUS, Lam. »(;c Serv.) 

 Genus : Prosteknodes, Thoms. 



Species : Prosternodes einnamipennis, Chevrolat. 

 P. oberthiiri, Gahan. 

 P. scutellatus, Gahan. 

 Genus : Derancistrus, Serville. 



Species : Derancistrus anthracinus, Gahan. 



D. elegans, Pal. de Beauv, 

 Genus : Solenoptera, Serville. 



Species : Solenoptera. thomae, Linne. 



S. parandro'ides, Lameere. 

 ;S'. bilineatus. Fab. 

 S. canaliculatus. Fab. 



etc., etc., etc. Surely a simpler arrangement, and one that shows the 

 real relationship of the species, inter se. Why maintain a binomial 

 nomenclature if the two names are not (1) the specific name, (2) the 

 generic name, uniting the most closel}^- allied species into the next 

 highest group above species ? The species included in the group 

 Pyrodes, Serville, also appear to be capable of subdivision into a 

 number of natural sub-groups or genera, and hence Pyrodes seems 

 also to be of tribal value. 



Dr. Eichelbaum, in his paper, follows the normal and more natural 

 grouping, and we get the Staphilinid.e divided up into — Subfamilies 

 — -Tribes- — Genera— Species. Here we get no " subgenera." If the 

 sections into which a "genus" has been subdivided by previous 

 workers are not, in the author's opinion, warranted, the names are 



