MELANOTUS. 453 



and with a space along the centre impunctate. Elytra rather more than three times the length of the 

 prothorax, subparallel to the middle ; punctate-striate, the interstices almost flat, each with two irregular 

 series of fine punctures. Beneath thickly, coarsely punctate, the fifth ventral segment very coarsely 

 punctured towards the apex ; mesosternum depressed. 

 Length 9, breadth 2\ millim. 



Eab. Mexico, Durango city ( Edge). 



One male example. This species differs from all the allied American forms in the 

 longitudinally carinate disc of the thorax. The very coarsely punctured apex of the 

 fifth ventral segment is probably a sexual character. M. carinicollis, Schwarz, from 

 Turkestan, also has the thorax longitudinally carinate, but in that insect the carina is 

 stated to extend nearly to the anterior margin. 



2. Melanotus prolixus. 



Cr atony chus prolixus, Erichs. in Germar's Zeitschr. fur Ent. iii. p. 94 (1841) \ 

 Melanotus prolixus, Cand. Monogr. Elat. iii. p. 339 2 . 



Eab. Mexico 12 , Oaxaca, Juquila, Yolos (Salle). 



I have seen five specimens of this species, including both sexes. The insect chiefly 

 differs from the allied Central-American forms in the very coarse, moderately close 

 punctuation of the thorax, the latter with the hind angles rather sharply carinate. 

 The antennae are ciliate on their inner edge and moderately elongate in the male, 

 shorter in the female ; the second and third joints are very short and equal in length. 

 The hind angles of the thorax have a short carina, and on the inner side of it there is 

 a second carina or plica, which is well defined in some of the males and obsolete in 

 the females. The mesosternum is less depressed than in M . castanipes and its allies. 



3. Melanotus castanipes. 



Elater castanipes, Payk. Faun. Suec. iii. p. 23 (1800) \ 



Melanotus castanipes, Kies. Naturg. Ins. Deutschl. iv. p. 251 2 ; Cand. Monogr. Elat. iii. p. 311 3 . 



Cratonychus castanipes, Erichs. in Germar's Zeitschr. fur Ent. iii. p. 95 4 . 



Perimecus fulvipes, Kirby, Fauna Bor.-Am. iv. p. 148 5 . 



Cratonychus incequalis, Lee. Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. new ser. x. p. 476 6 *. 



Hab. North America, Canada 3 5 , Lake Superior, 6 . — Mexico, Ciudad in Durango 

 (Edge). — Europe l 2 3 4 ; Siberia 3 ; Asia Minor 3 . 



We have received one male and four females of this widely distributed species from 

 Northern Mexico. They agree perfectly with others from Europe. The females are 

 of very large size (18-18-J millim. in length); the male is unusually small, measuring 

 12 millim. only. The insect differs from nearly all its allies in having the elytra very 

 elongate (from three and one-half to three and two-thirds longer than the thorax, 

 measured along the median line), and subparallel to beyond the middle, in both sexes. 



* For the rest of the synonymy, see Candeze (loc. cit.). 



