POLYCAON.—LYCTUS. | 211 
refer to this species with some doubt, which have the sides of the elytra plicate, but of 
which I do not know the exact locality *. 
2. Polycaon plicatus. 
Polycaon plicatus, Leconte, Trans. Am. Ent. Soc. 1874, p. 65; Horn, Proc. Am. Phil. Soc. 1878, 
p. 5581. ¢. . 
Polycaon obliquus, Lec. loc. cit. p. 66 ; Horn, loc. cit. ?. 
Hab. Norta America, Texas .—Mexico, Cordova, Peras (Sallé). 
The male specimen from Peras does not altogether agree with the two from Cordova ; 
for its elytra are nearly smooth and are not plicate at the sides; but even the two from 
Cordova vary a good deal in sculpture, one having an indistinct subapical callus, while 
the other is much more thickly punctulate, and I think it much more probable that 
they all belong to one species. I have carefully considered them, together with a 
specimen (a female) of P. obliquus from Texas, and feel sure these species should be 
united. The plication of the elytra is probably a very variable character and common 
to other species. 
Subfam. LYCTIVI. 
LYCTUS. 
Lyctus, Fabricius, Ent. Syst. i. p. 502 (1792). 
This is one of those doubtful forms which are so difficult to place anywhere satis- 
factorily, having various affinities. I think, however, the sum of its characters are 
more in harmony with the Bostrychide than with any other family; and it is nearer, 
perhaps, to Psoa than to any other genus. Kiesenwetter, in the ‘ Naturgeschichte der 
Insecten Deutschlands,’ has thus placed it; and he states the neuration of the hind wings 
fully to bear out this view. Species of Zyctws occur in various parts of the world, 
including Ceylon, New Zealand, North America, and Chili. 
1. Lyctus carbonarius. 
Lyctus carbonarius, Walt], Faun. i. p. 167 (1832) °. 
Hab. Mexico 1. 
Unknown to me. 
* T have not thought it well at present to make an alteration in the name of this species, for lack of direct 
evidence; but I feel convinced that this species is Apate femoralis, Fabr. Ent. Syst. i. 2, p. 361, which descrip- 
tion refers to the male, and that Apate gonagra, Fabr. (Ent. Syst. Suppl. p. 157; Syst. El. ii. p. 380), refers to 
the female. These species “ Had. in Americ insulis,” 7. ¢. the Antilles. I myself possess very old specimens 
of each sex from the Isle of Barthélemy thus labelled, and which are thus conspecific with the insect here 
recorded. The early writers on North-American insects have not attempted to account for all the Linnean 
and Fabrician species. 
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