10 BULLETIN BROOKLYN ENTOM. SOC. VOL. VY. [June 1882. 
Pt, validus, protractus and adoxus stand in the Catalogus as Pla- 
tysma while their synonyms algzdus; mornatus,; ryectus, sustentus and 
subarcuatus are enumerated as Pterostichi; purpuratus and lustrans are 
Argutor, and mu/us is Omaseus. : 
The Synopsis of the species adapted by Redtenbacher (Fauna aus- 
triaca 1872, pp. 43, 44, 45) to the European species reads as follows: 
Elytra with one stria between the margin and eighth stria. 
Epimera of metathorax distinctly longer than broad. 
Last palpal joint cylindrical, truncate at tip. 
ind/angles of prothorax roumded..32).222- 255-8 Lyperus. 
Pundvangles of prothorax shaman ss ee a. ee ae Omaseus. 
Last palpal joint oviform, slightly truncate............. Areutor. 
Epimera of metathorax slightly longer than broad; hind angles of pro- 
thorax prominent, elytra sinuate near tip, third interval with a row — 
OUjSWOOVES!: Kl... RR es Oe eee Platysma. 
Hind angles of prothorax, and usually humeri rounded Steropus. 
Elytra with two strize between margin and eighth stria.......... Abax. 
Now all these facts show that the generic characters used to divide 
this group are for the greater part rather weak and variable and the cre- 
ating of genera will always be arbitrary so long as there is no established 
code or agreement about what characters have a generic value. But not 
only the generic characters are variable, also those used to define the species 
can not always have been very safe and sure, or else the very same species 
could not have been redescribed by the same author under another name 
as has been the case in several instances. 
When Mr. Salle, the well known French naturalist was here, he de- 
monstrated to me, that those who collect Coleoptera of the world were bet- 
ter judges about classification than those who restrict themselves to their lo- 
calfauna. I do not dispute this opinion, but I prefer for myselfa classifi- 
cation of our home-made genera and species, by which e. g. Callida de- 
cora, Fab., stands very close together with C. punctata, Lec., far more 
than a cosmopolitan classification, by which these two species are widely 
separated and attributed to different genera, 
Therefore, as we have already published synoptic tables of Loxand- 
rus, Evarthrus, Lophoglossus, and Holciophorus we shall publish in our 
next numbers the synoptic table of Pterostichus, as published by Dr. Le- 
conte in 1873. adding thespecies described since that time, the bibliogra- 
phy, sizeand locality, which may be welcome to many of our Coleopterists. 
