298 l-HE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



this species extends from New Mexico to the coast range in southern 

 California. 



Hylotrupes litigiosus, Casey. 



With some hesitation by the author, this species is created at the 

 expense of iigneus, on the grounds of colour pattern, differences in the 

 size and shape of the elytra and thorax, differences in the punctuation 

 and pubescence of the elytra, and certain differences in the anterior and 

 middle tarsi of the males. All these characters are evanescent when a 

 large number of examples from all parts of the country are placed together. 

 There arc before me now about 20 from Massachusetts, New York, 

 Canada, Colorado, New Mexico, and the Pacific coast, and I have examined 

 lately perhaps twice that number. The coloration of the elytra amounts 

 to nothing in this species ; one example is unicolorous rufous, except a 

 blotch at the side; another is entirely black except a narrow marginal and 

 subsutural line before the middle, rufous : between these extremes there 

 are all kinds of spottedness and fasciateness. The series in my collec- 

 tion disproves the validity of the next two characters, and need not be 

 discussed. I have only a male of the proposed species, and while the 

 anterior and middle tarsi are in it as described by Mr. Casey, yet some of 

 the males with differently coloured elytra have nearly the same form of tarsi, 

 and there does not seem to be uniformity nor constancy in this character. 

 The name will do very well for a colour variety, and two riiore might be 

 made in this species with equal propriety. 

 Psenocerus tristis, Casey. 



Since the note on page 160 of this Vol., I have obtained an exactly 

 typical example of tristis, in which there is scarcely a suspicion of the 

 basal elytral tubercles, and also one of the supernotatus colour in which 

 they are equally inconspicuous. Another black example has them as 

 fully developed as any of the rufous individuals. Their synonymy is 

 seemingly absolute. 

 Leptura serpentina, Casey (I. c). 



The statement that this is a " valid species " must be reversed ; fresii 

 material from California and an inspection of other collections show it to 

 be synonymous with j-baiteaia, -Lqc, which is somewhat variable in form 

 and elytral ornamentation : the length of the antennae in this species as 

 well as in many other Cerambycides is variable ; in one collection there 

 is an example of j-balteata with one of the antennae blackish and the 

 other rufous, and in another an example with them partly dark and partly 



