— 203— 



i mil by other work from a careful study of the specimens. At the 

 present time, as I have also another specimen of the same species from 

 the Greifswald Zoological Museum and three specimens from the rich 

 collection of my friend C. A. Dohrn, and as I was thus able to make not 

 only comparisons of superficial characters but also of those not visible in 

 situ, I hesitate no longer in endeavoring to prove what I had long 

 suspected —that the genus belongs to an entirely different group, remote 

 from the Geoptrypidce. 



Leconte himself since 1S56, when he first described the genus, has 

 several times referred to the systematic position and relationships of this 

 genus. While he at first considered it as related to the Dynastini he after- 

 ward changed his views so that he considered it as holding a middle posi- 

 tion between that group and the Geoirypini and finally came to the con- 

 clusion that it was the representative of a new group, nearly allied to the 

 Geoirypini and which he termed Pkocomini. 



That he still adheres to this view seems to appear from the " Index 

 to the Coleoptera described by John L. Leconte" (Tr. Am. Ent. Soc.,lX, 

 p. 197-272) revised by Leconte himself and therefore authoritive, because 

 in this publication the genus Pleocoma is (p. 233) still in the same place, 

 between Geotrypes and Nigacus, that it occupied in Leconte's Catalogue 

 of the Coleoptera of North America (1863). Let us however follow Le- 

 conte a little more closely in his notes and opinions on this genus during 

 the past nineteen years. 



In his "Notice of three genera of Scarabidae found in the United 

 States" (Proc. Ac. N. Sc. Phil. VIII, 1856, p. 24) after an enumeration 

 of the characters which seemed to him important and peculiar to the 

 genus Pleocoma, he says as to its relationship : — "A very remarkable in- 

 sect apparently belonging to the Dynastidce, but differing from all the de- 

 scribed genera of that tribe by the eleven-jointed antennas having a four- 

 jointed club ; the seventh joint might almost be considered as belonging 

 to the club, but is only half the length of the four following. The very 

 long hairs fringing the body give a strong resemblance in appearance to 

 Synth/hus. The anterior tibiae are somewhat as in Athyreus ferrugineui 

 and other Geotrupides, but the teeth are more unequal ; the anteocular 

 lateral horns are also seen in that species ; the eyes are very large, and 

 contract the mouth so much beneath that the maxilla,- and mandibles are 

 invisible, or have been destroyed by insects; the thick hair also prevents 

 me from seeing the form of the mentum. The form of the prosternum is 

 the same as in Athyreus ; the anterior femora are very densely clothed 

 with hair on the anterior surface. The anterior and posterior tarsi are un- 

 fortunately destroyed ; the middle tarsi are exactly as in Athyreus. Doubt 

 must therefore be entertained whether this species should be placed with 



