Dec., '06] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 393 



A new Platycerus, and a new Pleocoma. 



BY H. C. FALL, Pasadena, Cal. 



The following fine species of Platycerus and Pleocoma are 

 somewhat recent discoveries of Mr. Ralph Hopping, of 

 Kaweah, California. They are quite distinct from all pre- 

 viously-described forms as will be seen from the following 

 descriptions and comparisons : 



Platycerus opacus n. sp. 



Male. Moderately convex, black, entire surface finely alutaceous and 

 dull, the head and prothorax a little less so than the elytra. Scape o* 

 antennce very nearly twice as long as the funicle, the latter 73 as long as 

 the club ; first funicular joint as long as the next two, sixth slightly acutely 

 produced inward ; first two joints of club subequal and about twice as 

 wide as long, last joint pearly as long as wide. Mandibles small. Head 

 coarsely densely punctured and sparsely hairy. Prothorax y z wider than 

 long, widest at or just before the basal third, where it is strongly rounded 

 but not angulate ; sides feebly arcuate and strongly convergent anteriorly, 

 still more rapidly converging to the deep sinuation before the basal angles, 

 which are sharply defined, a little acute and everted ; surface densely but 

 not coarsely punctate laterally, less densely but still closely and a little 

 irregularly toward the middle, a narrow median incomplete impunctate 

 line ; lateral margin flattened at the point of greatest width, narrowing 

 before and behind. Elytra very little wider than, and not quite twice as 

 long as the prothorax, i% times as long as wide, subparallel, striae repre- 

 sented by unimpressed series of very fine punctures, which are scarcely 

 distinguishable from those of the intervals and are in great part confused 

 with them. Legs rather slender, the hind tarsi about f as long as the 

 tibiae. 



Female. Large and more convex than the male, the elytra a little 

 more arcuate at sides ; antennal funicle very slightly shorter than the 

 club, the first two joints of the latter more strongly transverse ; hind 

 tarsi l /z the length of the tibiae. 



Length ^, 8.5-10 mm.; 9, 10.5-12.5 mm. Width rf, 3.5-4.1 mm.; 

 9, 4 8-5. 5 mm. 



Described from a series of 4^'s and 3 9 's taken by Mr. 

 Hopping at Clear Creek (June 5-12) and South Fork of 

 Kaweah River (Jan. 28-30), California. 'Both these locali- 

 ties" writes Mr. Hopping "are in the Sequoia National 

 Park, and the beetles occur in the Black Oak or Upper Cha- 

 parral belt, at an elevation of 4000 to 5000 feet, and so far 

 have only been found by digging, or where earth was being 

 removed from the upper roadbank." 



