MESODERA.— EPITRIX. 345 



think ought to be separated for the sake of a better definition of the genus. In 

 Mesodera the frontal tubercles are very greatly developed in both sexes, of a trigonate 

 shape, and divided, as well as limited behind, by a deep groove ; the antennae are very 

 robust in the male, thickened at the base, but gradually attenuated towards the terminal 

 joints, the third joint being double the length of the second ; each joint is also covered 

 with distinct hairs which form an outside fringe ; the basilar thoracic groove is not 

 distinctly bounded by a lateral impression, but extends a short distance upwards ; the 

 tibiae may almost be called unarmed, as, with a strong lens, I am only just able to dis- 

 cover a very minute spine at the apex of the posterior pair in one specimen, in others I 

 am not able to see it. The species has only been obtained in one locality. 



1. Mesodera Mvicollis. (Tab. XX. fig. 24.) 



Underside, antennae (the first joint excepted), and legs black ; head and thorax fulvous, impunctate ; elytra 

 violaceous blue, finely and regularly punctate-striate. 



Length 1| line. 



Head deeply grooved transversely between the antenna? ; frontal tubercles trigonate, very broad and strongly 

 raised ; labrum testaceous ; apical joint of the palpi acute, pieeous ; antennae nearly as long as the body 

 in the male, shorter in the female, all the basal joints very robust and thickened, the third nearly double 

 as long as the second, the following of nearly equal length, basal joint fulvous, the rest black, pubescent 

 at the sides ; thorax scarcely more than one half broader than long, moderately convex, the sides slightly 

 rounded to below the middle, a little constricted at the base, the angles distinct but not produced, basilar 

 sulcation deep, gradually approaching the posterior angles, but extending slightly upwards at the sides, 

 surface entirely impunctate ; scutellum semiovate, its apex broadly rounded, black ; elytra broader than 

 the thorax, with a very shallow and rather indistinct transverse depression below the base, dark blue, 

 shining, each elytron with ten rows of very fine, regularly and closely placed punctures, distinct to the 

 apex ; legs rather robust, the tibiae widened towards their apices ; anterior femora and their coxae often 

 fulvous, sometimes black. 



Hab. Guatemala, Cubilguitz {Champion). 



The elytra have the punctures so closely placed as to have an appearance of strise 

 rather than punctures ; the interspaces are not raised. 



EPITRIX. 



Epitrix, Foudras, Hist. Natur. Col. Altises, p. 308 (1860). 



JEpitrix, although very closely allied to Crepidodera f offers in most instances sufficient 

 structural differences to justify its separation, although cases are also here not wanting 

 in which the true place of certain species is difficult to determine, and merely a matter 

 of opinion. 



Typical forms of Epitrix have an oval-shaped body, generally covered with pubescence, 

 a medially produced posterior thoracic margin, and obliquely shaped or cut anterior 

 angles of the thorax. The genus seems better represented in Central America than 

 Crepidodera, judging by the specimens obtained ; but no species from our country have 

 up to the present been described, nearly all the known New-World forms having been 



biol. cente.-amek., Coleopt., Vol. VI. Pt. 1, January 1885. 2y 



