TARPELA. 289 
American representatives several groups of species, each of a different facies (and 
differing considerably in sculpture, &c.), are to be met with: T. browni, 7. thoracica, 
T. atra, T. cupreo-viridis, T. puncticeps, T. erifera, T. silvicola, and T. cisteliformis are 
species of this kind, each of these having several close allies, though all are connected 
by more or less intermediate forms. The characters usually of generic value, such as 
the structure of the pro- and mesosterna, tarsi, antenne, epipleure, &c., seem to be 
of very little value here. All the species, with the exception of two, are winged ; some 
few have the ventral segments 1-3 a little flattened (in 7. depressa broadly concave) 
and closely punctured and pubescent along the middle in the male, as in the winged 
forms of Nautes. Doubtless many North-American winged species, as well as some 
Old-World forms, belong to this genus as understood here. 
Section A. Anterior angles of the prothorax very strongly (sometimes acutely) produced ; 
upper surface more or less bronze, moderately shining ; epiplewre abbreviated ; 
anterior tarsi with the three basal joints rather broad, about equal in width, and 
scarcely dilated in the male. 
a. Prosternum a little declivous, slightly convex behind or with the apex produced into a 
broad or narrow point ; mesosternum declivous, rather feebly excavate. 
* Species winged. 
1. Tarpela browni. 
Tarpela brownii, F. Bates, Ent. Monthly Mag. vi. p. 272, t. 2. f. 4*; Allard, Rév. Hélopides, in 
L’Abeille, xiv. p. 72; Mittheil. der schweiz. ent. Ges. v. pp. 56 & 236°. 
Hab. Nicaraaua 23, Chontales (Janson 1, Belt); Panama, Volcan de Chiriqui (Cham- 
pion). 
Mr. F. Bates’s description of the prosternum of Tarpela, presumably including this 
species and 7. oblongo-punctata, is apparently drawn from the latter: in T. brownt the 
prosternum is not nearly so strongly declivous and very distinctly produced, the apex a 
little raised; in 7. oblongo-punctata it is exactly as described, ‘‘ bent down behind the 
anterior cox and then expanded and terminating in a broad point.” 
9. Tarpela tenuicornis. (Tab. XII. fig. 20, 2.) 
Ovate, moderately convex, brownish-«neous, more or less tinged with green, moderately shining. Head 
coarsely and very closely punctured, the punctures longitudinally or obliquely confluent, deeply trans- 
versely impressed in front; eyes small; antenne moderately long, slender, the three outer joints a little 
widened and flattened, piceous, the basal joint paler; prothorax comparatively narrow, transverse, 
the base and apex about equal in width, the sides angularly extended a little before the middle and 
sinuate behind, the anterior angles very strongly and narrowly produced, the apex with the central 
part a little rounded, raised, and somewhat produced in front, the posterior angles rectangular, the base 
strongly bisinuate, the basal fovew usually rather deep, the disc with a strong sinuous transverse impres- 
sion (sometimes only appearing as a long oblique deep fovea on each side) before the base, the lateral 
BIOL. CENTR.-AMER., Coleopt., Vol. IV. Pt. 1., June 1887. 2 PP 
