348 HETEROMERA. 
and pygidium black, the legs (the anterior pair excepted) piceous; the antenne pitchy- 
brown, much shorter, and with joints 8-10 transverse. The pubescence is long and 
coarse, and the punctuation is coarse also. 
71. Mordellistena minutissima. (Tab. XV. figg. 23, ¢; 23¢, maxillary 
palpus; 23 0, hind leg.) 
Short, cuneiform, the head and prothorax flavo-testaccous, the scutellum and elytra black, the pygidium testa- 
ceous; the elytra with two broad, not very distinct, transverse cinereo-pubescent fasciee—one before, the 
other beyond the middle,—the rest of the pubescence partaking of the ground-colour and rather sparse. 
Head short and broad, the eyes small; palpi(d¢) testaceous, the last joint of the maxillary pair about 
twice as broad as long, somewhat hammer-shaped ; antenne (¢) very short, testaceous, joints 3 and 4 
narrow, subequal, 5-11 a little thickened, 5-10 almost as broad as long, 11 much longer than 10: prothorax 
transverse ; elytra comparatively short, gradually narrowing from the base; beneath black, the head and 
prothorax excepted, the last ventral segment testaceous ; pygidium very long and slender, more than twice 
the length of the hypopygium ; legs flavo-testaceous, the hind femora piceous ; the hind tibie and the 
first joint of the hind tarsi with two very short faint ridges near the tip. 
Length to end of the elytra 14-14, to tip of the pygidium 13-2, millim. (¢.) © 
Hab. GuateMata, near the city, San Geronimo (Champion). 
Three male examples. Smaller than the smallest example of M. palpalis ; the head 
and thorax entirely flavo-testaceous, the antenne shorter and more slender. ‘This and 
M. pulicaria are perhaps the smallest species of the genus yet described. 
72. Mordellistena palpalis. (Tab. XV. figs. 24,3; 24 a, maxillary palpus, 3; 
24 6, maxillary palpus, 2 .) 
Stout, cuneiform, black, the head reddish-testaceous, the pygidium reddish or testaceous, the elytra with two not 
very distinct cinereo-pubescent fascisee—one post-basal, the other post-median,—the rest of the pubescence 
rather sparse and partaking of the ground-colour ; the elytral punctuation coarse. Head broad and short, 
the eyes rather small; palpi testaceous, the last joint of the maxillary pair usually darker at the tip, the’ 
latter more than twice as broad as long and somewhat hammer-shaped in the male, elongate-ovate with the 
apex obliquely truncate in the female ; antenne very short in both sexes, testaceous, joints 3 and 4 about 
equal in length, 4 wider than 3, shorter and narrower than 5, 5-11 a little thickened, 5-10 decreasing a 
little in length, 8-10 as broad as long in the female, 11 considerably longer than 10; prothorax transverse ; 
elytra gradually narrowing from the base ; beneath black, the last ventral segment testaceous or reddish ; 
pygidium long and slender in the male, shorter in the female, twice the length of the hypopygium ; legs 
in great part testaceous, the hind femora piceous or brownish ; the hind tibie with two or three (including 
the subapical one, the basal one often indistinct or obliterated), and the first joint of the hind tarsi with 
one or two, very short oblique ridges at the tip. 
Length to end of the elytra 2-23, to tip of the pygidium 23, millim. (¢ 2.) 
Hab. Mexico, Teapa (H. H. Smith); Guatemata, San Gerdénimo and San Juan in 
Vera Paz (Champion); Nicaracua, Chontales (Janson); Panama, Volcan de Chiriqui 
(Champion). | 
Eight examples. This is one of a little group of species, all of which are of very 
small size, and have the apical joint of the maxillary palpi very broad and somewhat 
hammer-shaped in the male, the hind tibiee with two or three very short ridges near 
the tip only, the antenne very short in both sexes, and the elytra spotted or with 
