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III. Descriptions of neto r/enera and species of Phyto- 

 phagous Beetles belonging to the family Crypto- 

 ceplialidas, together luith diagnoses and remarks 

 on previously described genera. By Joseph S. 

 Baly, F.L.S., &c. 



[Head 7th Februaiy, 1877.] 



Family CRYPTOCEPHALID.E. 



The tendency shown by some of our leading Entomolo- 

 gists to ignore small generic groups, and to regard them 

 as mere sections of a larger and often unwieldy genus, is, 

 I think, rather injurious than otherwise to the progress of 

 Entomology. The time and labour necessarily consumed 

 in wading through a long series of unnamed sub-sections 

 (usually placed without any attempt at tabular arrange- 

 ment), often deter students from working on those families 

 in which these cumbrous genera exist. 



The genus Cryptocephalus presents a striking case in 

 point : containing upwards of 700 described species, held 

 together by the slightest possible characters, it has been 

 divided by Suifrian into numerous secondary groups, many 

 of them so aberrant that it frequently becomes impossible 

 to determine whether a species belongs to the genus or 

 not. 



Many of these groups having been previously charac- 

 terized as distinct genera by Stal, Saunders, and other 

 authors, I shall endeavour in the present paper to restore 

 them to their original rank. In order to do this, 

 it is necessary to di^dde Dr. Chapuis' sub-family Crypto- 

 cephalites, conjoined with a portion of his Monachites (viz., 

 those genera in wdiich the scutelkun is well developed) into 

 two primary groups, dependent on the form and emargi- 

 nation of the eyes. 



In the first section, which includes Cryptocephalus 

 proper, Monachus, and allied old world forms, the eyes 

 are more or less elongate, frequently approximating or 

 even contiguous in the $ . They are broadly emarginate 

 within, the canthus occupying to a great extent the inner 

 border of the eye ; its apex is very broadly rounded or 



TEAXS. ENT. SOC. 1877. — PART I, (APR.) 



