

557 



VII. — Coleopterological Notices. 

 IV. 



BY THOS. L. CASEY. 

 Read May 9, 1892. 



The following pages are principally confined to studies in our 

 Khynchophora, taken up some time since for the sole purpose of 

 distributing the nondescript material, forming a considerable part 

 of my cabinet, with a measurable degi'ee of scientific order and 

 succession. As usual in such cases, the compass of the work gradu. 

 ally outgrew the limited and personal objects had in view at the 

 beginning, and the investigations in several genera and groups 

 became sufficiently advanced to suggest the propriety of publishing 

 them, with the hope that they might i>rove useful to others similarly 

 engaged. 



There is but little further to state in way of introduction. The 

 studies have been limited for the greater part to those groups which 

 appeared to stand most in need of revision, either by reason of the 

 large number of specific forms recently brought to light, especially 

 by skillful collecting in our western country, or because of apparent 

 misconception regarding generic identity, as in the case of the group 

 Desmorhines of LeConte. This section of the Erirhinini corre- 

 sponds with the Smicronychina of the European fauna, where it is 

 represented only by the genus Smicronyx, characterized by its con- 

 nate tarsal ungues and the basal constriction of the rostrum. In 

 our own fauna it is rather more abundant and diversified. 



The Barini, or Baridiides, to which the greater part of the pre- 

 sent paper is devoted, constitute probably the largest tribe of 

 American Curculionidae, and, in South America, form the most 

 varied and characteristic element of the family, possibly excepting 

 the Zygopini. It is interesting to note in this connection, that the 

 recent researches of Mr. S. II. Scudder on the fossil beetle fauna of 

 Annals N. Y. Acad. Sci., VI, Aug. 1892. 



