THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 169 



habitats, is in some respects, a drawback, and it would have been 

 quite as well under the circumstances to have left out the terms which 

 apply to any beetle as a rarity or otherwise. 



The changes made in the nomenclature are not so important as 

 departure from the order of the plan adopted by Dr. Sharp, but, 

 in referring to this, it may be as well to give Mr. Cox's own words : — 

 " It was at one time customary to divide the Coleoptera into groups 

 superior to families, the most generally received system being that 

 dependent upon the number of joints in the tarsi, the order being 

 divided into Pentamera, Tetramera, and Trimera (in which the tarsi 

 ahd generally five, four, and three joints respectively), and Heteromera, 

 in which the front pair of tarsi had five joints and the posterior pairs 

 four joints. This system, being subject to a great number of excep- 

 tions, fell into disuse, and it became usual to recognise no sections 

 superior to families. This, however, appears to be so contrary to 

 nature, that I have felt compelled to attempt to unite the families in 

 groups by a combination of characters. In doing this I have had to 

 remove the Erotylidae, Coccinellidaa, and Endomychididse from their 

 usual position at the end of the series of Coleoptera to the Ciavicornia 

 (a group the component parts of which vary greatly in tarsal struc- 

 ture and in food), and also to place the Bruchidas in the Phytophaga 

 instead of the Rhynchophora. The Stylopidae, which until lately 

 were regarded as a distinct order, but have since been admitted, as it 

 were under protest, among the Heteromera, in spite of their tarsal 

 structure, I have placed at the end of the list, considering their 

 peculiar thoracic formation to require their separation from the order. 

 In consequence of their affinities with the Rhipiphoridae, &c, I have 

 located the Heteromera immediately before them." 



Before leaving this subject, I would impress on all young students 

 the value of this work in their search after knowledge of the coleoptera 

 of the British Isles, and would also advise them to endeavour to 

 possess themselves of a copy of it. I am fully aware that there have 

 been difficulties in procuring the work, from the applications which 

 have been made to me respecting it, but copies are still to be obtained. 



From 1874 t0 J 882 a quietude existed, that is so far as the publica- 

 tion of new lists was concerned ; but in the latter year, a small work 

 appeared by Mr. F. P. Pascoe, entitled "The Student's List of British 

 Coleoptera." It contained synoptic tables of the families and genera 

 of the British species, and was compiled from the 1871 edition of Dr. 

 Sharp's catalogue ; but differing from the latter by commencing with 

 the Coccinellidae and ending with the Cicindellidae, or completely in- 



