APTOPUS. 423 



7]. The prothorax rufous, with the base and apex black ; the elytra testaceous, with the suture narrowly, and 

 sometimes the sides also, black ; the legs piceous. 



Hab. Mexico, Guanajuato (Salle). 



Q. The prothorax, and sometimes the head also, rufous or rufo-testaceous ; the elytra entirely testaceous or 

 rufo-testaceous ; the legs brownish or testaceous. 



Cardiophorus spadiceus, Erichs. in Germans Zeitschr. fur Ent. ii. p. 331 5 . 

 Aptopus spadiceus, Cand. Monogr. Elat. iii. p. 232 6 . 



Hab. Mexico 6 (coll. Janson, ex Candeze), Villa Lerdo in Durango, Chilpancingo 

 (Hbge), Amula in Guerrero (H. H. Smith), Jala pa 5 . 



i. The prothorax and elytra entirely black ; the legs black or piceous. 



Cardiophorus concolor, Erichs. in Germar's Zeitschr. fur Ent. ii. p. 329 7 . 

 Aptopus concolor, Cand. Monogr. Elat. iii. p. 233 8 . 



Hab. Mexico 8 (coll. Janson), Durango city, Matamoros Izucar, Morelia in Michoacan 

 (H'dge), Puebla, Guanajuato, Cuernavaca, Oaxaca (Salle), Chilpancingo and Amula in 

 Guerrero (H. H. Smith). 



Upwards of one hundred examples have been examined of this very variable species. 

 I follow Candeze in adopting the name lateralis for it, in preference to basalts, which 

 would be much more applicable. Many of the varieties occur at the same localities, 

 at Guanajuato, Chilpancingo, Cuernavaca, &c, and there can be little doubt that they 

 belong to one species. As in A. pruinosus, the punctures on the thorax are unequal 

 in size, and in some specimens they are finer and more scattered than in others. The 

 antennas are usually entirely piceous or black, but sometimes the basal one or two 

 joints are ferruginous or testaceous; in some examples of the var. spadiceus they are 

 entirely ferruginous. The females have the thorax broader and more rounded at the 

 sides (in some specimens as wide as the elytra), and the antennas shorter, than the 

 males. 



A. lateralis is a little more cylindrical in shape than most of the allied forms. The 

 punctuation of the under surface is close and fine, and on the metasternum there are 

 coarser intermixed punctures. Erichson's descriptions appear to have been made in each 

 case from single examples ; his types (which I have not seen) are contained in the 

 Berlin Museum. The insect is widely distributed over the Mexican plateau, from 

 Durango southwards to Vera Cruz and Guerrero. 



We figure five specimens: a typical example from Cholula ; a specimen of each 

 of the vars. j3, y (basalis), and e, from Chilpancingo ; and one of the var. I from 

 Guanajuato. 



9. Aptopus erichsoni. (Tab. XIX. figg. 9, 6 ; 9 a, genitalia.) 



Elongate, rather broad, moderately shining, sparsely clothed with long, fine, greyish pubescence; reddish-brown, 

 piceous, or pitchy-black, the antenna? and legs varying in colour from ferrugineo-testaceous to piceous, 



