NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 233 



Two specimens, Monmouth Co., New Jersey ; collected in the sweeping net. 

 Easily distinguished by the small size and 11-jointed antennae. 



The sides of the thorax converge in front and are nearly straight, and 

 strongly margined ; the anterior angles are subacute, and the hind ones are 

 rounded; the disc is very acutely elevated in front of the base, and com- 

 pressed from the top of the elevation to the base ; the front declivity of the 

 elevation is channelled ; a distinct impression runs obliquely from the base 

 of the elevation to the anterior angles, and the base each side is transversely 

 impressed ; the accessory tubercles are thus rendered more obvious than in 

 the preceding species. 



The striae of the elytra are scarcely impressed, the punctures are large 

 and quadrate, and the intervals flat; the tip is obtusely rounded. The joints 

 of the antennae, fourth to eighth, are small, and nearly equal; the ninth is 

 as long as the six preceding united ; the tenth is as long as the ninth, and 

 the eleventh, as usual, a little longer. 



5. H. g i b b i c o 1 1 i s. Anobium gibbicolle Lee, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., 1859, 

 284. 



One specimen from California. The disc of the thorax is still more ele- 

 vated than in H. p u m i 1 u s, the impressions still deeper ; the sides do not 

 converge in front, and are deeply bisinuate ; the anterior angles are promi- 

 nent, but not acute at tip. 



C. Antennse W-jointed ; hind angles of thorax distinct. 



6. H. f o v e at u s. Anobium foveatum Kirby, Fauna Bor. Am , iv. 190. 



Northern portion of the United States and in Canada. This species dif- 

 fers in several important respects from the others and should very likely be 

 separated as a distinct genus. The hind angles of the thorax are quite dis- 

 tinct, the base, instead of being rounded, is sinuous each side and prolonged 

 at the middle ; the sides are straight and parallel; the disc is tuberculate 

 each side, broadly excavated in the middle, and but feebly carinate at base. 

 The first ventral segment is obviously shorter than the second ; the tarsi are 

 less slender, more distinctly dilated, and the second joint is scarcely longer 

 than the third. 



ANOBIUM Fabr. (emend. Thorns., loc. cit., 1859 ) 



Synonym.. Coelostethus Lee, Class. Col. N. America, 204. 



The name Anobium has been restricted by Thomson to those species in 

 which the thorax is excavated beneath for the reception of the head, and the 

 pectoral excavation for the reception of the antennae prolonged into the 

 metasternum. As he was the first author who has divided the species com- 

 posing the old genus upon structural characters, it is proper that his right 

 to select that genus for which the name is to be retained should be recog- 

 nized. The modern idea of types for genera cannot be rigorously applied 

 to those founded by the older authors, and the attempt to do so has been 

 productive of much confusion. The author who first distinguishes the com- 

 posite elements of a genus to which no type is definitely assigned by the 

 founder may certainly use his judgement in applying the original name 

 to any one of the new genera which contains species of the original author. 

 This judgment once exercised constitutes a kind of priority, which must 

 be respected, in order to prevent the inconvenience of applying the old name 

 to several different genera, according to the ideas of subsequent commenta- 

 tors. Our species are but two in number. 



1. A. quadrulum Lee, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., 1859, 87. 

 Puget Sound. 



2. A. no tat u m Say, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci., v. 172 ; (ed. Le Conte, ii. 281.) 

 Middle and Northern States. 



1865.] 



