284 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



In regard to the defects of tlie present system of classifi- 

 eation of the Aleocharini, the remarks which are made under 

 the description of Colusa, are not intended as a final and 

 definite opinion, but are merely the expression of a train of 

 thought brought about by a somewhat extended study of 

 the tarsi of many genera. Beginning with the assumption 

 that the normal tarsus consists of five joints, a series of 

 specimens can be readily formed in which one of these joints 

 becomes gradually smaller and more anchylosed with 

 another until finally no trace of it can be found, giving us 

 a distinctly four-jointed tarsus. The radical difficulty, 

 therefore, in a tarsal nomenclature, is the difficulty in deter- 

 mining whether the tarsus is really five or four- join ted, 

 which difficulty is enormously increased in those genera 

 having finely and densely pubescent tarsi. In the American 

 species of Falagria the amalgamation of the fourth joint 

 with tlie fifth has not become complete, so that the fourth 

 joint is visible as a basal segment of the fifth; whether such 

 a tarsus is to be considered five-jointed, as is done below, 

 or four-jointed as in the books, is a f;dr sample of the ques- 

 tions which must continually arise under such a classifica- 

 tion. 



The older nomenclature based upon the structure of the 

 trophi is open to the same objection in regard to difficulty 

 of observation, and is even less satisfactory in other respects, 

 and, although it is always easier to see defects in existing 

 methods of classification than to propooe new and better 

 ones, I think it may be said with a considerable probability 

 of truth that a really satisfactory classification of the Aleo- 

 charini is a thing yet to be conceived, and that it may 

 ultimately depend in great measure upon the form and 

 structure of large and important parts of the body. 



The practice of assigning American species to European 

 genera has perhaps been carried somewhat too far, and in 

 many instances it will pr9bably be found upon closer study 

 that our species so disposed of are decidedly cut of place; this 



