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I:’SYCI-IE.

A DECADE OF MONSTROUS BEETLES.

BY SAMUEL H. SCUDDER.

Monstrosities among insects have al-

ways a unique interest; early in myentomological career I began the col-lection of facts regarding them, planninga general survey and classification ofthe entire literature of the subject, whichI have not only never fully carried out,but which the multiplicity of other workwill prevent nay undertaking seriouslyfor a long time to come, if ever. Onthat account I have thought it well to

publish the few original cases whichhave come into my hands, and of whichI have made notes, together with illus-trations of them. None of them are ofexceptional interest, but one or two arenot a little remarkable. They all be-long to the Coleoptera, and all but oneto one of the two families, Carabidaeand Scarabaeidae. The drawings weremade by Messrs. J. H. Emerton andEdward Burgess.

CARABIDAE.

Carabus serratus Say. o. A rightfore leg in which the femur is normal butthe tibia unusually thick at base; onlya short distance beyond (about - thedistance) it divides into two branches,each of which is at tip very nearly, ifnot quite, as large as the normal tibia.

The inner one is not so well developedas the outer and may therefore be con-sidered the supernumerary limb. Theinner is slightly shorter. The tarsaljoints of each are five in number, and inthe inner are slightly shorter than in theouter; this is especially the case withthe terminal joint. In the inner leg theterminal joint is not inserted in themiddle of the previous but upon themiddle of its inner half and at the sametime it is slightly curved inwards as ifto give room for another joint, whichindeed I think once existed, for there isa pit upon the middle of the outer halfof the terminal surface of the penulti-mate joint just large enough for the re-

ception of such a joint, and this toowould account for the unusual shortnessof the remaining terminal joint. Theterminal joint of the outer leg is pro-vided with a normal pair of claws; theother has only a slightly bent, veryminute, and very short central and un-

divided process.The outer tibia is normal in shape

and in armature; the inner exhibitsabove a longitudinal groove broad anddeep in the middle, becoming abruptlyshallow and narrow anteriorly, and ter-minating by a union of the borders at

90 [June x89

the very margin of the limb posteriorlyit shallows, narrows gradually, and ter-minates in a point back of the divisionof the primary tibia. _A_ similar but not:so distinct groove is seen beneath, andat the tip beneath three instead of twoprominent spines are visible. It is evi-.dent, then, that the inner portion of this

.supernumerary leg is exhibiting a ten-dency itself to divide in two places: atthe tip of the tibia and at the tip of thetarsi; the only indication in the partslying between these two points is in thevery trifling greater width of all thetarsal joints.

This specimen was received from Mr.Frederick Blanchard of Lowell throughMr. E. P. Austin. It is now in theMuseum of comparative zoology inCambridge.

Dyschirius sp. (P1. z, fig. 7)" Ofthis species I have only notes and rough’sketches referring to the right fronttarsus. The st and d joints are nor-mal; the 3d is longer than usual, benta little forw-ards, and bears at the benda 4th joint and at the tip another; thatat the tip bears a normal 5th joint withclaws as usual only a little smaller; thatat the bend bears an altogether similar

5th joint only the claws are still smaller,scarcely curved, and a second still moreabortive pair of claws is found at theouter edge close to the tip, thus show-ing signs of double bifidity.The specimen was shown me by Dr.

J. L. LeConte, but its origin I do notknow.Amara rausculus Say (P1. , fig. :).

The right antenna is -jointed; the left

antenna is affected as follows: joint i-6normal (the first not shown in the figure)7th a very little enlarged apically, thebetter to support the abnormal 8th joint,which is depressed and beyond the base,here slightly larger than usual, ex-

pands and forms a sublenticular mass

slightly longer than broad, with a dis-tinct straight impressed line down themiddle of the upper inner surface (as ifmade up oftwo connate joints) it is ofthe normal length. Each of these twolateral halves bears an appendage offour almost precisely similar joints, theexact counterpart of those of the oppo-site antenna except in being a very littlesmaller though of the same proportionsthe lower is borne at the extremity ofthe lower half, and is continuous withthe antenna while the upper is attachedto the upper outer angle of the upperhalf and trends a little away from thenormal direction; the 9th, oth andIth joints of this half are a trifle shorter

than those of the other more normalhalf.The specimen came from Massa-

chusetts, and was received from Mr.Samuel Henshaw.

Galerila janus Fabr. (P1. 2, fig. ).The specimen of this species which Ihave to describe briefly, is not greatlymalformed. Malformation occurs in theright hind leg, the femur of which is

perfectly natural, and the tibia is of nor-

mal length and clothing, but is perhapsa little swollen, and considerably twistedfrom a point slightly beyond the base,the curvature being more or less sinuous,at first and most strongly backward, at

June 89. t’SYCtIdg. 91

the apex in the opposite direction. Itbears the usual spines at the apex, butthe longer inner one is curved beyondthe middle. All that remains of thetarsus is a spine-like appendage whichtakes its place,man appendage less thanone half the diameter at base, about asas long as twice the width of the tibia,tapering slightly, and bluntly roundedat tip.The specimen was obtained by the

late Mr. F. O. Sanborn, May IO, 1868,in West Roxbury, Mass., and is now inthe museum of the Natural historysociety, Boston.

Chloenius tomentosa Say (P1. 2,

fig" 3)" The single specimen before meshows a somewhat simple malformationin the left middle leg. ’Che femur andtibia are normal, excepting that the tibiais somewhat more enlarged than naturalat the apex, more resembling in this

respect the fore tibia, expanding broadlyat its extreme apex. Here, besides thenormal spurs, there is the attachmentof what appear to be a triple series oftarsi. The middle one is reduced to amere conical bulb between the othertwo, bristling at its apex with spines ofa moderate length; one of the othersconsists only of what may perhaps beregarded as the basal half of the meta-tarsus extending at right angles outward,bluntly rounded at the apex, but show-ing at the extreme apex and just at itsside the points from which a couple ofspines, probably of moderate size, havebeen broken off; the inner is the onlydeveloped tarsus, and this is malformedin two ways" first that the metatarsus

is rather stouter than normal, a littlecurved, and is followed by a shortsupernumerary joint only a little smallerthan the normal second joint; andsecond, that the whole tarsus is bent at

right angles between the supernumeraryjoint and the second (this bend is notseen in the figure); unless indeed thesetwo joints may be regarded as one, con-

stricted and bent at right angles in themiddle.

This specimen was obtained by Mr.F. Stratton at Natick, Mass., and isnow in the museum of the Natural his-tory society, Boston.

LAMPYRIDAt.]’elephorus rolundicollis Say (P1., fig" 5)" A right antenna in which

the first joint is longer than usual; thesecond is of ordinary length but as largeat base as at apex and bears two joints,one at the apex, a normal third fol-lowed by eight joints as usual, and theother a short, depressed, thickened jointarticulated on the apical half of the an-

terior face of the second joint, and fol-lowed by five joints, the first of whichis like the preceding, while the rest are

slender, elongated joints, somewhat likethe normal joints but evidently uselessand perhaps immoveable (by will) inlife, together curling backward.

In the drawing the normal third bearsa curved appendage which I did notsee; and the third joint of the supple-mentary palp, being bent and folded, is

represented as if made up of two small

joints.This specimen was shown me by Dr.

92 t’S1"CitE. [June

j. L. LeConte, but its origin I do notknow.

SCARABAEIDAE.

Lachnosterna fusca Froh. (P1. 2,

fig. 8). This is on the whole the mostsingular monstrosity with which I havemet. It concerns the middle leg ofthe left side. The femur of normallength is extraordinarily enlarged so asto form a cuneate piece, at its apexnearly as broad as half the length of thefemur. From both the anterior and pos-terior extremities of the expanded sub-compressed apex there arises an inde-pendent tibia; the anterior is sub-nor-mal, having all the parts but the tibiasomewhat reduced in size and of moreuniform width throughout, the tarsientirely normal and complete. The setof members arising from the posteriorextremity of the expanded femur con-

sists of a tibia similar in length and ingeneral appearance to the other butstouter and deeply cleft on its outer faceto the depth of fully one third its length.Each of the uniform halves thus cleftpresents the normal pair of apical spursand is followed by a series of tarsi ingeneral respects normal but of ratherdiminished size, and the upper havingthe terminal joint not bullate at the ex-

tremity but terminating in a conicalpoint without any claws.The origin of this specimen I do not

know; it is now in the Museum ofcomparative zoology at Cambridge.olyhylla decemlineata Say (P1.

2, fig. 6). A right antenna in whichthe first and second joints are normal,

the third not larger than usual but bear-ing two fourth joints: the first articulatedat the tip, the second articulated on theanterior face, the articulation occupyingall of it but the part close to the base;both fourth joints are formed in generallike the normal fourth joint; the first isdirected backward and bears a normallyformed set of laminae, seven in number,but small and directed subparallel to,though not so much curved as, those ofthe left antenna; in this case the second-ary fourth joint differs from the normalfourth only in being smaller to aboutthe degree that the laminae are smallerthan normally. In the second case thefburth joint is greatly swollen and bearsat its broad apex a very peculiar set oflamellae, which from the first show theirintention to divide; three are undivided,but irregular in shape, more or less im-perfect, and attached not by one ex-

tremity but near the middle, the longerportion directed anteriorly and a littleinward; the shorter in an oppositedirection, each curved downward; thefirst two of these are flat laminae, a littlethickened at the point of attachment;the third is enormously thickened atthis point and produced into a triangularprojection, upon either side of whichare attached the remaining laminae,four anterior and three posterior, thedivision of this portion of the bifid an-tenna taking place at this point.

This specimen was shown me by Dr.j. L. LeConte, but I did not learn itsorigin.

Cotal)a lan@era Linn. Instancesare quite frequent in which the longer

Psyche, 189, vol. 6. Plate 2.

7

June xs9x .] t:’SICIIE. 93

anterior claw on one or many of thefeet shows a tendency to division, beingin some instances cleft on the posteriorouter edge from a little below the tipone-sixth the distance to the base of theclaws. Mr. E. P. Austin first drewmy attention to this feature, and informsme that he has noticed it in a consider-able number of specimens he has ex-

amined. Nearly every specimen I haveexamined shows some trace of it, froma tubercular enlargement of the spotwhence the bifurcation proceeds, up tothe amount I have mentioned above.Half of the four specimens in the Harriscollection in the Boston society of nat-ural history have it.

Trichius 2biger Fabr. (P1. 2, fig. 4)"A right hind leg in which the femur is

normal; the tibia is slightly shortenedand thickened, but terminated by theusual two spines; the tarsal joints are

curved rather strongly upward, and in-stead of being uniformly long, slender,and gradually thickened at the apex,are (except the last) uniformly andnearly equally short and stout, nearlytriangular, with the apex prominent be-neath they are scarcely longer thantheir extreme height at apex. The lastjoint is conical, truncated, a little smalleronly at tip than at bas, about twice as

long as it is broad at the base, and veryslightly curved outwards; it bears at

the tip a pair of scarcely divaricatingclaws a little shorter than the normal;but in addition to this it also bears atthe very base of the joint, above, twomore pairs of claws; one pair so nearthe base as to appear at first sight to beattached to the penultimate joint, a littlesmaller than, and facing in the samedirection as the apical pair, and alsoscarcely divaricate; the other, just be-yond, also scarcely divaricate, largerthan either of the other pairs, but stillsmaller than the normal claws, and fac-,

ing in an opposite direction to the othertwo pairs; apparently the claws are allfreely moveable.The specimen was obtained at Med-

ford, Mass., by the late Mr. F. G. San-born, and is now in the museum of the..Boston society of natural history.

EXPLANATION OF PLATE 2.

I. Right hind leg of Galerita janus.2. Left antenna of Amara musculus.3" Left mid leg of Chloenius tomen-

rosa.4. Right hind leg of Trichius piger.5" Right antenna of Telephorus ro-

tundicollis.6. Right antenna of Polyphylla de-

cemlineata.

7" Right fore leg of Dyschirius sp.8. Left midleg of Lachnosterna fusca..

PERSONAL NOTES.mMr. C. W. Woodworth,recently entomologist to the Agriculturalexperiment station at Fayetteville, Ark., has

accepted a similar position at the station in

Berkeley, Cal., and has already moved to his

new post.

Mr. Theo. D. A. Cockerell, of England,.formerly secretary of the Colorado biologicalassociation, has been appointed curator ofthe museum in Kingston, Jamaica. After

June 24 his address will be Institute of

Jamaica, Kingston, W. I.

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