THE BIOLOGY OF THE ALDER FLEA-BEETLE. 275 



The systematic position of the flea-beetles was a matter of 

 great dispute for about 50 years after Geoffroy had proposed 

 the genus Altica to include them. A summary of the usages of 

 the various writers from the loth edition of Linnaeus' "Systema 

 naturae" in 1758, which has been adopted as the arbitrary start- 

 ing point for zoological nomenclature, to the final establishment 

 of "Haltica" as a definite genus by Illiger in 1807, is given in 

 the 2 tables published below. A more complete account of this 

 history may be found in Kutschera (1859), Allard (1860), and 

 Chapius (1875). 



Authors who retained Altica previous to 1807. 



*1762 Geoffroy p. 244; 1764 Geoffroy p. 244; 1775 De Geer p. 290; 



1775 Fabrlcius p. 112; *1785 Fourcroy; 1789 Olivier p. 128; 1790 Olivier 



p. 100; 1796 Latreille p. 63; 1802 Illiger p. 138 (Haltica); *1803 Hoffman; 



1804 Latreille p. 323; 1807 Latreille p. 63; 1807 Illiger p. 81 (Haltica). 



Authors not retaining Altica previous to 1807. 1 



1758 Linnaeus p. 373 Chrysomela (Saltatoriae femoribus posticis 

 crassisimis) ; 1763 Scopoli p. 69 Chrysomela (Saltatoriae) ; 1776 Fabri- 

 cius p. 32 Chrysomela (Altica similis Chrysomelae saltatoriae Linn, certe 

 huius generis) ; 1781 Fabricius p. 131 Chrysomela (Alticae saltatoriae 

 femoribus posticis incrassatis) ; 1787 Fabricius p. 75 Chrysomela (Alticae 

 saltatoriae femoribus posticis incrassatis) ; 1788 Linnaeus p.^1691 Chry- 

 somcla (Saltatoriae femoribus posterioribus incrassatis: Alticae); 1792 

 Fabricius t. 1, pt. 2, p. 24 Galeruca (Saltatoriae) ; 1801 Fabricius t 1, p. 

 417 Colaspis (Saltatoriae), t. 1 p. 445 Chrysomela (Saltatoriae), t. 1 p. 

 463 Crioceris (Saltatoriae), t. 1 p. 477 Lema (Saltatoriae), t. 1 p. 491 

 Galleruca 3 (Saltatoriae femoribus posticis incrassastis) ; t. 1 p. 502 Cyphon 

 (Saltatorii) ; t. 2 p. 57 Cryptocephalus (Femoribus saltatoriis). 



Altica was proposed by GeofFroy in 1762 as a distinct genus 

 to include the jumping chrysomelids which had been included 

 by Linnaeus (1758) in the genus Chrysomela. The original 

 definition of Altica was "Antennae ubique aequales, femur a 

 postica crassa subglobosa" (p. 244), and as first constituted the 

 genus included 19 species. In modern usage, as one would 

 expect, the genus Altica is defined within much narrower limits, 



*The writer has not had access to this paper. 



J The flea beetles are grouped at the end of the respective genera in 

 which they are placed with the designation "saltatoriae" or some similar 

 expression, as is indicated in the parentheses. 



8 The older authors spelled this word sometimes with one "1" and 

 sometimes with 2. The genus was constituted by Geoffroy (1762) as 

 Galeruca (p. 251), which is therefore the correct form. In this section 

 of the paper the writer has indicated the spelling as it is to be found in 

 the various papers quoted. 



