286 MEMOIRS ON THE COLEOPTERA 



Merium Kirby. 



In addition to the type species of this genus there is at least one 

 other, the differences which apparently are not due to sex being 

 expressible as follows: 



Elongate, black, the sterna of the hind body and the abdomen blackish- 

 piceous; head black; elytra dark but suffusedly and irregularly 

 pale before the middle internally and each with two acutely elevated 

 pale vittse, the fine marginal gutter also pale, the dark parts suffused 

 with marked violaceous lustre; legs piceous-black, the femora tes- 

 taceous, suffusedly dark basally and at apex, the vestiture consisting 

 of very small sparse hairs; head strongly and confluently punctate; 

 eyes finely faceted, two-thirds divided; antennae (9) scarcely two- 

 thirds as long as the body, slender, the basal parts with a few long 

 hairs and with the decumbent cinereous hairs rather dense, the second 

 joint fully half as long as the third; prothorax one-half wider than 

 long, the side parallel and broadly arcuate, becoming gradually 

 strongly converging and arcuate to the basal constriction, the broadly 

 and briefly tubulate base but little more than two-thirds as wide as 

 the broadly arcuate and unreflexed apex; surface smooth, polished 

 and unimpressed, with a few widely scattered coarse punctures, 

 abruptly coarsely and very densely punctured laterally; elytra 

 more than twice as long as wide, at base fully two-fifths wider than 

 the prothorax, slightly narrowed from base to the rounded apices, 

 the surface feebly rugose, coarsely, rather loosely punctured, the 

 punctures becoming rather fine, asperulate and evidently separated 

 apically over the rugulose surface, the vittse becoming disintegrated 

 posteriorly, disappearing at about apical fourth or fifth; legs rather 

 long, the femora moderately swollen. Length (9 ) 15.5 mm.; width 

 4.4 mm. British America and Lake Superior region; New York 

 LeConte. [Callidium protens Kirby, Fn. Bor.-Am., IV, 1837, 

 p. 172] proteus Kirby 



Elongate but broader, black throughout, the abdomen picescent; legs 

 nearly as in the preceding, the elytra wholly black, scarcely visibly 

 picescent posteriorly, the dark parts wholly without violaceous 

 lustre but with very faint greenish glint, the prothorax without 

 trace of metallic reflection; head with strong but widely separated 

 punctures, dense only laterally; antennae (9 ) nearly similar, except 

 that the fine vestiture basally is sparser and less evident, the second 

 joint being less than half as long as the third and that they are 

 still shorter, only a little more than half as long as the body and 

 gradually stouter toward base; prothorax differing notably, larger 

 and more transverse, more than three-fourths wider than long, similar 

 in general form but with the parallel sides anteriorly more arcuate, 

 the still more briefly subtubulate base much wider, nearly four- 

 fifths as wide as the apex, the latter broadly arcuate, acutely sub- 

 reflexed medially; surface with median half smooth, polished and 

 with a few very coarse punctures, which tend to define a broad 

 smooth median line, the posterior part of the smooth surface with 



