THE METALLIC WOOD-BORING BEETLES. 781 



species are known from the Tinted Slates, five of which have been 

 taken in Indiana, while one other perhaps occurs. 



KEY TO INDIANA SPECIES OF PICERCA. 



a. Elytra much prolonged at apex. 



I. Tips of elytra entire. 1483, DIVARICATA. 



bb. Tips of elytra bidentate. PUGIONATA. 



do. Elytra not much prolonged at apex, the tips bidentate. 



c. Thorax and elytra uniform without elevated smooth ridges. 



d. Thorax narrowed from the base; impressions of thorax and elytra 



distinct. 1484. OBSCURA. 



d<1. Thorax narrowed from the middle; impressions indistinct. 



14S5. LURIDA. 



cc. Thorax and elytra uneven, the latter with short elevated smooth 

 ridges. 



e. Front of head with a transverse carina ; middle tibiae of male den- 



tate. 14SG. SPRETA. 



ec. Front not carinate ; middle tibia? of male simple. 



1487. ASPERATA. 



1483 (4577). DICERCA DIVARICATA Say, Jouru. Phil. Acad. Nat. Sci., III, 

 1823, 103; ibid. II, 105, 5!>0. 



Elongate-oval. Above brassy brown or grayish-cu- 

 preous ; beneath cupreous. Thorax nearly twice as wide 

 as long, side margins subangulate at middle ; disk with 

 a median impressed line and an indentation before the 

 scutellum, its sides roughly, coarsely and unevenly punc- 

 tured. Elytra with tips much prolonged and usually 

 somewhat divergent ; surface substriate, coarsely and 

 irregularly punctate and with numerous raised reticulate 

 smooth spaces. Length 16-21 mm. (Fig. 295.) 



Fig. 295. (After Pack- 



Througnout the State; scarce. May 24r-June ard in Fifth Rep. u. s. 



. l Ent. Coinin.) 



27. The larva? burrow in the wood of beech and 

 cherry and the beetles are usually found on the trunks or branches 

 of these trees, though sometimes on apple, maple and oak, all of 

 which have light colored bark, thus serving to protect the basking 

 beetle from its enemies. One specimen was taken on June 12 from 

 the clutches of a large bumble-bee-like fly, MU<>i_)hora sp. ? 



D. caudata Lee. is a small variety, more convex in form and 

 having the thorax feebly narrowed from base to apex instead of 

 widest at middle. A single specimen was taken from the flowers of 

 willow near Pine, Lake County, May 30. 



D. pugionata Germ., bronzed- cupreous, length 11-1.'>.5 mm., is 

 known from Pennsylvania and Maryland. 



