Introduction 7 



genetic; the position assigned Lamellicornia by Sharp does not mean 

 that he considered them lowest in the phylogenetic scale, but simply 

 so distinct from other beetles as to require a special place, while the 

 position given them by Leconte was avowedly simply a matter of con- 

 venience. 



Phylogenetic Systems 



The phylogenetic systems seek to arrange the families and series so 

 that the more primitive beetles shall precede the more derivative; in 

 such systems certain characters are assumed to indicate a stage in the 

 progressive modification of the Coleoptera, rather than a relationship. 



Taking the tarsi as an example, a primitive beetle is assumed to 

 have had tarsi composed of five equal, elongate, unmodified joints, as 

 in a generalized sort of insect. Tarsi in which by fusion some of the 

 five joints are shortened, or modified, might have been derived from the 

 simple 5-jointed tarsi; further progressive mocUfication might have re- 

 duced the number on one leg to four, producing the heteromerous 

 condition; still further modification might have produced the 4-jointed 

 tarsus, or even three, or two, or one. ^\11 such modified tarsi would 

 indicate a greater or less degree of derivation or specialization. 



The same theory may be and has been apphed to many parts, 

 external and internal, of the body and its appendages. Sometimes the 

 modification, perhaps under the influence of special environment, has 

 been apparently rapid in certain directions, while in others it has stood 

 nearly stationary. In such cases it may be possible to build up series 

 of families sho\\ang progressive modifications in various directions, but 

 each united as a series by the possession in common of those characters 

 which have been scarcely modified. But the results may, and indeed 

 have, varied greatly, according to the value attached to the various 

 characters as indices of phylogenetic rank. 



The first serious attempt to do this is by Auguste Lameere, the 

 great Belgian coleopterist, in 1900^). His first results were corrected 

 in 1903") and give the following classification, based primarily on the 

 venation of the hind wings: 



Carabipormia — liiiid wings with cross-veins connecting longitudinal veins. 

 Staphyliniformia — hind wings without cross- veins connecting longitudinal veins 

 Canthariformia — hind wings with longitudinal veins hooked or recurrent. 



' Notes pour la classification des Coleopteres (Ann. .See. Ent. Belg. XLIV, 1900). 



^ Nouvelles Notes pour la classification des Coleopteres (Ann. Soc. Ent. Belg. XLVII, 1903). 



