12 Coleopterological Notices, III. 



symbols, and thei'e cau be but little doubt that they are, we must also admit 

 Oplocephala and Oplocephahis ; we should have absolute and consistent 

 law throughout. I believe the difficulty can be overcome if we hold tliat 

 generic symbols are not words in any sense, but constants, analogous to the 

 constants of a mathematical formula ; that they form part of no language, — 

 although Latin by induction, and that they are completely indeclinable, 

 except when used in the genitive as specific names or in the nominative 

 plural as group names. Under these circumstances Ulus and Ula would be 

 distinct and different combinations of letters, and could be maintained as 

 genera with perfect propriety. 



The Ornithological Congress has passed favorably upon the trinomial nomen- 

 clature. In j-egard to this it need only be said that the admission is a dan- 

 gerous one, for it will result finally in names including four, five or even six 

 words, and nomenclature will gradually become involved in a web of its own 

 weaving. If the trinomial nomenclature is admitted, it should only be with 

 the understanding that either the specific or siibspecific name be bracketed. 

 Our system should remain essentially binomial. 



CUCUJID.E. 

 LYCTIJS Fab. 



The characters given by me (Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci., Y, p. 324), 

 to distinguish the two genera Lyctus and Trogoxylon, I find to be 

 of no value, for, while applicable to the latter as represented by 

 paraUelopipedus, the distance separating the anterior coxip gradu- 

 ally diminishes through calif ornic as and puncfatiis to the slight 

 prosternal width characterizing cavicollis and others. So also in 

 regard to the external prominence of the anterior tibiae at apex, not 

 at all discernable in cxirtulus and a little more pronounced in paral- 

 lelopipedus, it becomes normally prominent in punctatus, this char- 

 acter not having the value here which it has in Eurymetopon. The 

 elytral punctures are completely devoid of serial arrangement in 

 parallelojnped us, have a slight tendency thereto in punctatus, and 

 are distinctly seriate in californicus. There are the same grada- 

 tions in regard to the prominence of the apical angles of the pro- 

 thorax. 



I am forced therefore to regard Trogoxylon as a synonym of 

 Lyctus, and, a few new forms having been recently received, the 

 present opportunity is taken to give a complete statement of our 

 species as far as known : — 



