DERMESTID.E i8i 



sides converging and very feebly, subevenly arcuate from base to apex, 

 the latter transversely truncate; base broadly lobed medially; surface 

 strongly, rather closely punctate and with gray pubescence, close apically 

 and broadly toward the sides gradually less broadly to the basal angles, 

 sparse elsewhere; scutellum moderately griseo-pubescent; elytra three- 

 fourths longer than wide, slightly wider than the prothorax, otherwise 

 nearly as in vulpinus and with a similar sutural spinule, but with the 

 pubescence evenly grayish-white and rather close throughout; anterior 

 tarsi pubescent beneath in the male, the sexual characters as in vulpinus. 

 Length (o 71 ) 7.8 mm.; width 3.4 mm. Arizona. 



Differs from vulpinus in the nearly straight converging sides of the 

 prothorax, these being more arcuate in that species, especially 

 anteriorly, and also in the notably more abbreviated and flatter 

 elytra, uniformly and more closely clothed with shorter pubescence. 

 A female of vulpinus at hand, from the District of Columbia, differs 

 from any other of a series taken at various places from Florida and 

 Indiana to Guadalupe Island and Durango, in having the pro- 

 thorax much less transverse and more parallel, in fact only about a 

 third wider than long, the sides more rapidly rounding anteriorly. 

 There is also some variation in the vestiture visible in this series, 

 this sometimes becoming more uniform and pale throughout, but 

 there is no combination of differences so pronounced as in the case 

 of the type of truncatus, above described, and I have little or no 

 doubt that this is a distinct taxonomic form; perhaps it is the one 

 mentioned by Dr. Sharp in the " Biologia " under the name canus 

 Sturm, which seems to be unpublished, as it is not recorded in the 

 Torre catalogue, of the Schenkling series. 



Dermestes cylindricus n. sp. Male narrow, parallel, with straight 

 sides and not very abruptly rounded before or behind, convex, black, 

 strongly and densely punctate throughout; pubescence anteriorly rather 

 long, subdecumbent, in great part fulvous, with a little black and some 

 white patches intermingled; on the elytra it is much shorter and more 

 decumbent, in great part blackish, with some fulvous areas especially 

 toward the suture and with sparser whitish flecks, taking the form of 

 transverse irregular lines suturally, the scutellum with dense whitish 

 vestiture; under surface with dense decumbent grayish vestiture, varie- 

 gated on the abdomen by oblique lines of denser whiter tint, with an 

 elongate black spot at the sides of each segment, the last segment almost 

 entirely without pale vestiture, the small median sexual fascicle of hairs 

 on the third and fourth segments being almost without denuded sur- 

 rounding surface; legs having very short pubescence, the middle and 

 hind femora rather feebly annulate with white submedially ; anterior tarsi 

 almost without pubescence beneath; antennae obscure ferruginous, with 

 the basal joint of the club slightly wider than long and obparabolic, 



