Memoirs on the coleoptera

I DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE OF THE AMERICAN
BYRRHIDS.
The Byrrhidae, in the most modern arrangement of the Coleop-
tera, are held to form a part of a subordinal group called the
Dascilloidea and are connected on the one hand, by way of the
evidently related Dermestidae, with Cyphon and the Heteroceridae
and on the other, through the Rhipiceridae and Cebrionidae, with
the large families Elateridae and Buprestidae and finally with the
Ptinidae, leading thence into the Heteromera. This appears to
be one of the happiest strokes among the many
efforts to arrive
at a true generalization of amnites among the very puzzling groups,
some clavicorn and some serricorn, of the old arrangement. Years
ago (Journ. N. Y. Ent. Soc., VI, 1898, p. 76) the writer alluded to
the fact that the Clavicornia of the old school were by no means a
natural aggregate, and it is with satisfaction that he finds this
opinion is being corroborated, though he was in all probability by
no means the first to offer the suggestion.
In the following revision the Byrrhidae of LeConte and Horn are
restricted to the series comprising the subfamilies Byrrhinae and
Nosodendrinae of those authors, the genus Chelonaritim, which
formed another subfamily under their conception of the Byrrhidae,
having rather family than subfamily rank, being excluded from the
present discussion. Chelonarium seems to be very
rare in this
country, but is more frequently met with in the warmer parts of
the continent. It is said to be arboreal in habits and not epigeal,
differing in this way as well as profoundly
Byrrhidae proper.
The general anatomy of the Byrrhids
in structure from the
is outlined with sufficient
clearness in many comprehensive systematic works and need not
be repeated here. The body is oval in form and very convex, of
minute to moderate size and with hard integument.
The Byrrhids
are rather numerous in species, occurring under stones and logs,
or more especially in the crevices between aggregated fragments
or in sand near water courses; they are rather slow in movement,
T. L. Casey, M?m. Col. Ill, Feb. 1912.