ISCHIODONTUS. 333 



Twelve specimens of this species are before me — ten of the typical form and two of 

 the variety. Dr. Candeze has examined one of the typical examples and named it as 

 above ; but, as I should not have suspected this from his brief diagnosis and remarks, a 

 fresh description is given from our additional material. The variety he mentions 

 probably belongs to /. balteatus. In the form of the mesosternum I. erythroderus 

 approaches the genus Spilus. 



36. Ischiodontus melas. (Tab. XIV. fig. 25, s .) 



Elongate, narrow, convex, subcuneiform, deep black, shining, the oral organs and legs entirely testaceous, the 

 antennas black; somewhat thickly clothed with long hairs, which are blackish above (except at the base 

 of the prothorax) and fulvo-cinereous beneath. Head rather convex, thickly and somewhat coarsely 

 punctate, broadly triangularly excavate in frout in the male, shallowly so in the female, the frontal 

 carina very prominent, rounded anteriorly ; antennae extending fully to the middle of the elytra in the 

 male, shorter in the female, the joints from the third broadly dilated and serrate, becoming narrower 

 outwards, 3 and 4 equal. Prothorax convex, about as long as broad, narrowing from the base and 

 somewhat compressed at the sides in the male, the sides a little rounded anteriorly in the female ; the 

 hind angles strongly produced, divergent, carinate above, slightly incurved at the tip ; the surface finely, 

 sparsely punctate, deeply canaliculate behind. Elytra very elongate, narrowing from the base in 

 both sexes ; moderately finely striate-punctate, the interstices sparsely and more finely punctured, 

 and (except on the basal declivity) flat. Beneath somewhat thickly punctured ; prosternal sutures very 

 deeply excavate in front ; mesosternum with the sides strongly raised and obliquely declivous, 

 separated from the metasternum by a very deep transverse suture ; posterior coxal plates strongly 

 triangularly dilated opposite the point of insertion of the femora. 



Length lOI-ieJ, breadth 2^-4 millim. ( <J $ .) 



Hob. Nicaeagua {Salle), Chontales (Belt) ; Panama, Bugaba, Volcan de Chiriqui 

 (Champion). 



Twenty-two specimens, all females but two. Allied to /. nigrieornis, but differing 

 from that insect (and from /. anceps also) in having the upper and under surfaces deep 

 black, the hairs on the upper surface almost black, the thorax longer and more 

 attenuate, and the sides of the mesosternum more raised. The elytra are not distinctly 

 striate, except along the suture. 



In the form of the mesosternum, I. melas and the following species, /. rujiventris, form 

 a transition to the genus Spilus. Both species are unknown to Dr. Candeze. 



37. Ischiodontus rufiventris. 



Elongate, narrow, convex, subcuneiform, shining ; deep black, the oral organs and legs testaceous, the antenna; 

 black ; beneath, the prothorax excepted, ferruginous or rufo-testaceous ; somewhat thickly clothed with 

 long hairs, which are blackish above (except at the base of the prothorax) and fulvo-cinereous beneath. 

 Head rather convex, thickly and somewhat coarsely punctate, the front broadly triangularly excavate in 

 the male, shallowly so in the female, the frontal carina prominent, rounded anteriorly ; antennae 

 extending to the middle of the elytra in the male, shorter in the female, the joints from the third broadly 

 dilated and serrate, becoming narrower outwards, 3 and 4 equal. Prothorax convex, slightly broader 

 than long, narrowing from the base, a little rounded at the sides anteriorly in the female ; the hind angles 

 strongly produced, divergent, slightly incurved at the tip, carinate above ; the surface finely, sparsely 

 punctate, deeply canaliculate behind. Elytra moderately elongate, narrowing from the base in both 

 sexes ; rather finely striate-punctate, the interstices sparsely and more finely punctured, and (except on 



