Mr. G. Lewis on Histeride from Venezuela. 45 
two vertebrae of Mezolania with the same elements of any 
Pleurodiran. There is a fundamental difference. These ver- 
tebree are typically Cryptodiran in Meiolania. 
12. “If Dr. Baur were acquainted with the structure of 
the hyoid in the Pelomeduside he could not have pointed to 
the character of the hyoid bones as proving the Testudinoid 
nature of Miolania.” 
The hyoid apparatus of Sternotherus niger before me is 
very different from that of Medolania. The copula and 
the proximal parts of the third pair of cornua are entirely 
coossified ; in Metolania we only have the ossified great 
cornua, and these show some resemblance to the same elements 
in Sternotherus; but such a similarity is not an affinity. IL 
do not know the hyoids of Pelomedusa. In young specimens 
of Podocnemis only the great cornua are ossilied. 
EXPLANATION OF PLATE VL. 
Fig. 1. Atlas of Podoenemis Dumeriliana, front view, + 
Fig. 2. Atlas and axis of Podocnemis Dumeriliana, from below, +. 
Fig. 3. Atlas of Testudo polyphemus, front view, +. 
Fig. 4, Atlas and axis of Testudo polyphemus, from below, 7. 
Fig. 5. Atlas, axis, and part of occipital condyle of Metolania platyceps, 
3, from below. The elements are placed in the right position. 
2'=intercentrum 1. 
2 
2? =intercentrum 2. 
o=condyle. 
c=centrum of atlas. 
cl=centrum of axis. 
New Haven, Conn., 
April 2, 1889. 
1V.—Notes on the Histeride taken in Venezuela by Mons. 
E. Simon. By G. Lewis. 
THE object of this paper is to enumerate the species of 
Histeride captured in Venezuela by M. E. Simon during a 
journey extending through December 1887 to April 1888, 
and it will form, I believe, one of a series of memoirs relating 
to other insects taken by him at the same time. Almost 
every collection made in the warm parts of America brings 
to light some curious new form of Histerid, and the present 
one is not an exception. The Phelister Simoni noticed here 
is a most remarkable species and one which I only place in 
the genus with doubt. As, however, I have given an outline 
of the sternal structure (which differs so much from the 
structure in Phelister venustus, Leconte, the type of the genus) 
