310 NITIDULID A. 
STELIDOTA. 
Stelidota, Erichson, in Germar’s Zeitschr. iv. p. 800 (1848)’; Reitter, Verh. Ver. Brinn, xii. 1, 
p. 12’. 
This genus consists of about twelve species, and is widely disseminated in the Western 
hemisphere, being represented in the Antilles as well as in North and South America. 
Erichson! assigned two species from Madagascar to the genus, but they are not 
included in Reitter’s enumeration ?. 
Stelidota is one of the numerous genera of Nitidulide in which the definition and 
recognition of the species are matters of great difficulty. I have been able to separate 
our species in a fairly satisfactory manner by means of the direction of the axillary 
line on the metasternum ; but the character is not. a suitable one for sectionizing the 
genus, as it varies gradually from species to species. This is also the case with the 
sculpture of the elytra and the shape of the hind legs in the male. 
1. Stelidota strigosa. 
Nitidula strigosa, Gyll. in Schénh. Syn. Ins. ii. p. 1407. 
Stelidota strigosa, Er. in Germ. Zeitschr. iv. p. 302°; Reitter, Verh. Ver. Briinn, xii. 1, p. 16° 
(nec Horn). 
Hab. Muxico, Cordova (Sallé, Hoge), Jalapa (Hoge), Cuernavaca, Teapa (H. H. 
Smith) ; British Honpuras, R. Sarstoon (Blancaneaux).—Soura America, Colombia ?; 
ANTILLES 1 2, 
Our specimens are clearly S. strigosa, Reitter (though this author? does not mention 
Mexico as a locality), and they are probably the species described by Gyllenhal! and 
Erichson?; but they are not the S. strigosa of Horn, which, to judge from the descrip- 
tion, must be a quite different species. SS. strigosa has the grooves of the elytra 
extremely shallow, in fact almost absent except at the base, the serial pubescence very 
short, and the surface of the elytra covered with a minute sculpture that renders it 
opaque. ‘There is a rather large axillary space outside the middle cox; and the hind 
tibie of the male are moderately curvate and are broad at the tip, the inner edge of 
the short dilated part not being straight. The thorax is usually not explanate at the 
sides, but in some large examples a slight explanation is present. The colour is usually 
ferruginous or cinnamomeous, and there is no maculation, though sometimes the disc 
of each wing-case is largely infuscate. 
2. Stelidota rubripes. 
Stelidota rubripes, Reitter, Verh. Ver. Briinn, xu. 1, p. 16°. 
Hab. Mexico, Orizaba!. 
I cannot identify this species from Reitter’s description. It appears to be a very 
small insect, and is said to have a sculpture similar to that of S. strigosa. Unless it 
