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Asemum Esch. 



Distinguished among the Asemini very clearly by the small, 

 deeply emarginate and very finely faceted eyes and unusually short 

 antennae; the male has the fifth ventral very broadly arcuato- 

 truncate at tip, exposing the sixth, while in the female it is strongly 

 rounded, concealing the latter segment. Our species have never 

 been carefully investigated but are rather numerous, those in my 

 cabinet being definable as follows: 



Pronotum with the median line not finely striiform, except sometimes 

 centrally 2 



Pronotum with a fine substriiform median line, feebly impressed and 

 extending from the apical margin nearly to the base 9 



2 Sculpture of the pronotum very fine, dense and confused, the granules 

 seldom very distinct. Eastern species 3 



Sculpture much less dense, the granules larger, always isolated, with the 

 interspaces shining. Western species. Comparative descriptions 

 drawn from the female throughout 6 



3 Elytra in both sexes distinctly more than twice as long as wide, cov- 

 ering the entire abdomen in the female or very nearly 4 



Elytra materially shorter, not or scarcely more than twice as long as 

 wide, leaving the entire last dorsal segment exposed in the female. . . 5 



4 Form parallel, moderately convex, dull, dark brown to nearly black; 

 pubescence very short, rather abundant, palish; head three-fifths 

 as wide as the prothorax, densely sculptured; antennae short and 

 stout, the pubescence abundant, rather long, pale and conspicuous, 

 fifth joint rather more swollen, sixth shorter than the seventh and 

 very much shorter than the fifth; prothorax one-half wider than 

 long, evenly arcuate at the sides or very faintly subangulate, more 

 or less impressed centrally and not at all or very faintly at each side 

 of the middle; scutellum well developed, dull, very densely punctate 

 and evidently pubescent; elytra parallel, abruptly obtuse at apex, 

 wider than any part of the prothorax, faintly and obtusely substri- 

 ate, the intervals feebly convex, the alternate ones a little more 

 strongly; punctures fine, very dense throughout, the surface very 

 dull; under surface shining, finely, not densely punctate and with 

 short pale hairs; hind tarsi short, rather slender, the first joint as 

 long as the next two, second one-half longer than wide, the third 

 cleft almost to the base. Length (cf, 9 ) 13.0 mm.; width 3.8-4.0 

 mm. Pennsylvania. [A. mcestum Hald., Tr. Am. Phil. Soc., X, 

 p. 35; obsoletum Hald., (1. c.); brunneum Hald., (1. c.); siibstriatum 



Hald., 1. c., p. 36 Massachusetts] moestum Hald. 



A Characters similar to the above, except that the prothorax is 

 dilated, being a little wider than the base of the elytra. [A. 

 juvencum Hald., 1. c., p. 36] juvencum Hald. 



Form nearly as in mcestum but more slender and with the sides of the 

 elytra converging perceptibly from about apical third, the apices 

 less obtuse; color piceous-black, dull, the prothorax slightly rufescent; 

 T. L. Casey, Mem. Col. Ill, March, 1912 



