244 . PHALACRIDA. 
. MYCHOCERUS. . 
Mychocerus, Erichson, Nat. Ins. Deutsch. iii. p. 292, nota (1845) ; Leconte (Zimmerman), Trans. 
Am. Ent. Soc. 1869, p. 255; Horn, Proc. Am. Phil. Soc. 1878, pp. 557, 592. 
Murmidius, Leconte, Proc. Ac. Phil. 1866, p. 376 (pars). 
Hitherto one species only has been assigned to this genus, a second is now added 
from Guatemala ; the type of the genus (Jf. depressus, Leconte) was formerly placed in 
Murmidius. In the species now described the prosternum is nearly twice the width of 
that in any species of Murmidius known, and this is without doubt a valid generic 
character. 
1. Mychocerus pilifer, sp.n. (Tab. VII. figg. 17, 18.) - 
Late ovatus, depressiusculus, brunneus, supra cinereo-pubescens, parce punctulatus ; pronoto transverso, laterali 
arcuato, angulis anticis modice productis; elytris striis obsoletis, margine laterali anguste reflexo; subtus 
sublevi; prosterno lato, basi truncato, bistriato, striis anticis parum divergentibus; mesosterno antice 
recto, lateribus striato ; pedibus testaceis. Long. % millim. 
Hab. Guatemata, El Reposo 800 feet (Champion). 
Examples of this species have been submitted to Dr. Horn for examination and_ 
comparison with the North-American J. depressus, Lec.; and he states that I, pilifer 
is broader, and has the row of punctures on the elytra less distinct near the suture and 
scutellum, and that the thorax is more regularly narrowed from the base to the anterior 
angles. In M. depressus the thorax is more arcuate in front and the rows of punctures 
are more distinct and better marked on the dorsal region of the elytra. In pilifer 
the club of the antennz is fuscous; in I. depressus it is pale and concolorous. 
Seven examples, found beneath bark in the low hot region of the Pacific slope. 
Fam. PHALACRIDA*. 
This is one of the smaller families of Coleoptera: the volume of the Munich Cata- 
logue of Coleoptera, published in 1868, included only eighty-one species of Phalacride, 
and the number described since that time is only about twelve, so that the total number 
of recognized species is at present less than 100. 
From our region we have received nearly 400 specimens of the family, representing 
apparently about fifty species. The Phalacride are almost completely neglected by 
coleopterists, so that only those found in Europe and North America are tolerably well 
known; these amount to about sixty species, leaving only some thirty species as repre- 
senting the family in other parts of the world. This is, however, not due to their 
absence from tropical regions, but rather to the fact that, being small and remarkably 
* By D. Smarr. | 
