AGEIOTES. 527 



yellowish-cinereous-pubescent, the elytra each with a more or less distinct stripe of fuscous or blackish 

 pubescence near the suture, sometimes extending to the greater part of the surface, the body beneath 

 thickly clothed with cinereous or yellowish-cinereous pubescence. Head thickly, finely punctate ; antenna? 

 extending to a little beyond the hind angles of the prothorax, joints 2 and 3 equal in length, 3 shorter 

 than 4. Prothorax slightly broader than long, the sides rounded anteriorly and feebly sinuate behind ; 

 the hind angles long, acute, and divergent, without distinct carina; the surface very finely, sparsely 

 punctate, in some specimens feebly canaliculate at the base ; the base feebly incised on either side ; the 

 marginal carina distinct throughout. Elytra three times the length of the prothorax, and slightly wider 

 than it, somewhat rounded at the sides, and narrowing from a little below the base, attenuate behind ; 

 punctate-striate, the interstices flat and rugulose. Beneath densely and very finely, the prosternum and 

 propleurae sparsely, punctate. Hind coxal plates slightly widened in their inner third. 



$. Broader; rufo-testaceous, the base of the head, a large oval spot on the disc of the prothorax, the 

 prosternum (except in front), and the metasternum, black, the elytra testaceous or brownish-testaceous ; 

 the antennse brown, with the basal joints testaceous; the pubescence yellowish-cinereous. 



Var. Rufo-testaceous, the head, the prosternum (except in front), the metasternum, and elytra black, the 

 latter with a short testaceous humeral stripe. ( § .) 



Length 6|-7§, breadth 2-2| millim. 



Ilab. Mexico (coll. Janson, ex Laferte), Zacualtipan and Real del Monte in Hidalgo 

 (Edge). 



Numerous examples. Closely allied to A. alternus, but larger and more elongate ; 

 the elytra submetallic in some specimens, and with the pubescence differently arranged 

 in the typical forms. The sexes are very dissimilar in colour, the females corresponding 

 with some of the varieties ( d and $ ) of A. alternus. The males have the suture and 

 a broad marginal stripe clothed with yellowish-cinereous pubescence (leaving a more or 

 less distinct fusco-pubescent stripe on the disc of each elytron) ; in the females the 

 pubescence is almost entirely pale. The single ( 6 ) specimen in the Laferte collection 

 is labelled with the specific name here adopted. 



28. Agriotes alternus. (Tab. XXIII. fig. 18, $ .) 



Agriotes alternus, Cand. Monogr. Elat. iv. p. 371 \ 



Ilab. Mexico x (coll. Janson), Toxpam, Cordova, and Orizaba in Vera Cruz, Parada 

 and Juquila in Oaxaca (Salle), Oaxaca (Edge). 



This small species may be chiefly distinguished by its short and sparsely, finely 

 punctured thorax, the hind angles of which are slightly divergent. It is very variable 

 in colour in both sexes, and the pubescence on the elytra is in some specimens uniformly 

 yellowish-cinereous, instead of being arranged in alternate light and dark lines as in the 

 type. The black form only was known to Candeze. The thorax is often rufo-ferru- 

 ginous, or rufo-ferruginous with an oval black spot on the disc, this being sometimes 

 extended so as to leave the margins only rufescent. The elytra are black, brown, or 

 brownish-testaceous ; they usually have the alternate interstices, or the suture and a 

 submarginal stripe, yellowish-cinereous-pubescent. The different varieties have all 

 been obtained in the vicinity of Cordova. 



