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COLEOPTERA. 
Heteromera. —Anterior tarsi with five, hind tarsi with four joints. 
15 families. 
Phytophaga. —Tarsi with apparently four joints, densely pubescent. 
3 families. 
Rhynchophora. —Tarsi as in Phytophaga, head more or less prolong¬ 
ed into a rostrum. 4 families. 
In actual practice, it is, as a rule, easy to place a beetle in one of these 
series. The peculiar antennae marks the Lamellicornia instantly. The 
tarsi and simple antennae distinguish the Adephaga. Heteromera 
are distinct by the tarsi ; as Phytophaga and Rhynchophora have the same 
tarsi in most cases, the beginner will confuse some forms ; but the simple 
antennae of the Phytophaga , and the usually clubbed and elbowed antennae, 
as well as the usually evident rostrum, of the Rhynchophora , clearly mark 
all the common species of each series likely to be met with. All other 
beetles, especially if with serrate or clavate antennae, are Polymorpha , 
a series that includes the old Serricorn and Clavicorn groups, and in fact 
is an assemblage of all that are not clearly of one of the five distinct 
series. 
The classification of the species that fall into each series is by no 
means simple and no agreement will be reached until more is known of 
tropical forms. Especially is it difficult to fix the families and the 
student will find very diverse views expressed in various books. We treat 
Melolonthidae as a single family; there is little reason why it should not 
be regarded as consisting of several families. Chrysomelidce are another 
large assemblage that could justly be regarded as at least 11 and more 
probably 15 families, as is done by some authors. We have preferred 
to retain these as sub-families, but the student will have no difficulty in 
finding the equivalents of any families he may see discussed by writers. 
When a particular specimen has been placed in its series, there may 
be more or less difficulty in deciding on its family. There should be no 
difficulty in the Lamellicorn, Adephagous, Phytophagous, or Khyncho- 
phorous series, provided the characters mentioned are compared. For 
the other series, no keys or sufficient characters can be given. Except¬ 
ing the few larger families, very little is known of the smaller families, 
and while it is possible to give characters based on European or American 
species, these distinctions may not always apply to new and undescribed 
