150 JOHN L. LE CONTE, M. D. 



APPENDIX. 



BY JOHN L. LE CONTE, M. D. 



For some years past there has heen a growing tendency, especially 

 in the Western States, where agricultural interests dominate, to the 

 study of economic entomology. Unfortunately the efforts of industri- 

 ous and meritorious observers are, in some instances, thwarted, or ren- 

 dered of but little value, because the want of systematic knowledge re- 

 garding the characters and consequently the proper nomenclature of the 

 noxious objects has not yet been supplied by those who devote them- 

 selves specially to the study of the differences in structure of these mi- 

 nute insects. 



With a view to remedy in some degree this want, as far as regards 

 the ScoLYTiDiE, among whom may be ranked some of the most formi- 

 dable enemies of arboriculture, I have thought that descriptions of the 

 species in my collection, which are not contained in the foregoing me- 

 moir, might not be unacceptable in the present condition of agricul- 

 tural science. 



The students fiimiliar with the most recent works on entomology 

 published abroad, will at once perceive that the classification of our 

 author is much more elementary in its nature than those now generally 

 adopted. Disregarding the number of small joints of the antennae com- 

 posing the funiculus, between the club and the scape or elongated first 

 joint, his system depends to a great extent on the form and structure 

 of the club, the portion of the organ adapted for special sensibility. 



The value of the number of these joints, varying from 1 to 7. often 

 very small, frequently very difficult to observe, seems to me to htve 

 been greatly exaggerated by some modern systematists ; while admit- 

 ting their usefulness in defining groups of species within the genera, 

 I am not disposed to introduce them into the generic formulae, except 

 as accessory to more important differences in form and structure. 



Tribe I. — Platypini. 

 The admirable monograph of Dr. Chapuis upon this tribe, so dis- 

 tinct from the other two as almost to warrant its being viewed as a sub- 

 family, obviates the necessity of any extended remarks upon the few 

 species belonging to our fauna. The following references to the work 

 will enable the student to identify the species, all of which belong to 

 the genus Platypus, without trouble. 



