120 ENDOMYCHID^E. 



subject to a good deal of variation, the head and thorax being quite dark in the specimen 

 from David, while in two examples from E. Hondo these parts are rusty-red with 

 the sides alone of the latter blackish. The thorax is indistinctly margined ; the sides 

 are acutely angled about one third below the front, and from thence contracted towards 

 the base ; the disc is even, but strongly and very closely punctured. The elytra are 

 oval, having scarcely any shoulders, and rather pointed behind : the central black mark 

 is like an undulate fascia, and is united with the black margin, and sometimes (as in 

 the example figured) by a line crossing it with the hinder indistinct black spot. The 

 joints of the antennae are all shorter than in P. championi, the basal ones ferruginous, 

 the apical two always bright yellow. 



EPIPOCUS. 



Epipocus (Chevrolat, Dej. Cat. ed. 3, p. 463), Germar, Ersch & Gruber, Allgem. Encycl. d. 

 Wissensch. Th. xxxix. p. 86 (1843) ; Leconte, Proc. Ac. Phil.vi. p. 358; Guerin, Arch. ent. i. 

 p. 265; Gerstacker, Monogr. Endom. p. 240; Chapuis, Gen. des Col. xii. p. 121. 



Epipocus is a natural and well-defined genus, and, among the Endomychidse, is the 

 most characteristic of the Central-American fauna. Of fourteen described species 

 but two are peculiar to the Southern continent, while six are known from districts 

 north of the Eio Grande. Its distribution extends eastwards as far as Tennessee and 

 Georgia, and it is therefore almost certain that several new species will be added from 

 the vast districts of New Mexico and Texas. The unicolorous brown, and more pubes- 

 cent, species are those from the northern region, while the two Colombian representatives 

 are black. The Central- American species are intermediate between these forms. 



Section I. Body and elytra black. 



1. Epipocus rufitarsis. 



Endomychus rufitarsis, Chevr. Col. Mex. Cent. ii. fasc. 5, no. 123 (1835) \ 

 Epipocus rufitarsis, Gerst. Monogr. Endom. p. 243 2 ; Gorh. Endom. Recit. p. 21 3 . 



Hah. Mexico 1 2 3 , Cordova (Edge, Salle), Toxpam (Salle), Jalapa (Edge) ; Guatemala, 

 Cerro Zunil, Capetillo, Senahu, San Juan in Vera Paz, Sinanja (Champion), Coban 

 (Conradt) ; Costa Rica (Van Patten), Cache, Volcan de Irazu (Rogers). 



Small specimens, such as two examples from Coban, which at the same time have a 

 dense short pubescence, are duller than the average of larger examples, and are very 

 like the South- American E. fuliginosus, Guer., which, however, may be distinguished 

 by the apex of the abdomen being red. This latter species is very likely to occur in 

 the State of Panama or Costa Rica. 



