IOS ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [Mar., 'l/ 



which we can say nothing. The other forms fall quite natural- 

 ly into four divisions, which in a linear fashion we would ar- 

 range as follows : vS\ thoracic a Serville ( = toltcca Saussure 

 and authors) ; the marginclla group, comprising marginclla 

 (Serville), couloniana (Saussure), quadrata (Scudder) and 

 lanrifollnni (Linnaeus) ; S. aztcca (Saussure) ; and last, S. 

 incisa Brunner. 



We would consider 3*. thoracica more divergent from the 

 Steirodontid genera following Stilpnochlora than the other 

 groups of the genus, and 5\ incisa nearer them, with ' azteca 

 relatively close to it, both having a short inflated type of pro- 

 notum and a tendency of the lateral margins of the pronotal 

 disk to be elevated. The marginclla group clearly holds an 

 intermediate position. At this writing we have no important 

 information to give on any of the sections of the genus except 

 the marginclla group, which is a very plastic assemblage of 

 four species, the relationships of which were not comprehend- 

 ed previously. 



Stilpnochlora marginclla Group. 



This group, the greater portion of which was formerly con- 

 sidered to represent a single widely distributed species, for 

 which the name marginella was used, is composed of four spe- 

 cies, two of which marginclla and laurifolium are quite dis- 

 tinct from each other and from the other forms quadrata and 

 couloniana which are much more closely related. 



Serville's marginella? was described from the Cape of Good 

 Hope, of course in error, as all the members of the genus are 

 American. There is nothing sufficiently diagnostic in its de- 

 scription to enable us to definitely place the name, but it is 

 very probable he had Brazilian material, as much of his South 

 American material came from that region, and Stul, the first 

 author to comment on Serville's species, associated Brazilian 

 material with it. In consequence of this we feel warranted in 

 restricting Serville's name to the form of eastern Brazil and 

 the Guianas, at least until an examination of the Serville 

 material, if still extant, can be made. Saussure, in 1861, de- 

 scribed the Cuban form of this group as Ph\lloptcra couloni- 



3 Hist. Nat. Ins., Orth., p. 405 (1839). 



