8 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [Jan.,'lS 



A series of thirteen specimens collected at Colony Mills. 

 Tulare County, California, elevation 5415 ft., by Mr. Ralph 

 Hopping. Type in the writer's collection. 



A very distinct species. The tumid or tuberculate, everted 

 and reflexed elytral apices, are unique characters by which the 

 species can be quickly recognized. Under high power the sur- 

 face of the insect appears very finely pitted or pseudo-punctu- 

 late between the true punctures ; the elytral surface is mi- 

 croscopically and densely granulate. 



According to Casey's table, the species belongs to the riatica 

 group. 



The occurrence of eroded grooves and costae on the elytra 

 is atavistic. The crumpling occasionally observed also, may 

 in some individuals of other species of the genus Coniontis, 

 amount to rugosities as evident as those of the elytra of 

 Microschatia inacqnalis Lee. 



This form of sculpturing in Coniontis is purely anomalous, 

 and can be experimentally produced by puncturing the elytral 

 apodemes immediately after the casting of the pupal skin. 

 The wrinkling is due to shrinkage on account of the loss of 

 tension, which allows the inherent elasticity of the integumen- 

 tary tissues to act. 



The rugulosities in their feeblest form can be also produced 

 by the rapid evaporation of the body fluids immediately after 

 the emergence of the insect from the pupa. These facts ex- 

 plain this form of sculpturing so frequently observed in 

 beetles, and which is to a greater or less extent a fortuitous 

 physiological modification, and one which is usually considered 

 of specific or varietal importance. Its constancy in certain 

 species depends upon the stability of the meteorological con- 

 ditions of the environment. When these conditions are fitful, 

 the sculpturing is apt to be asymmetrical. Coelocnciuis pre- 

 sents this condition more or less constantly, both in its symmet- 

 rical and asymmetrical state in a certain per cent, of individ- 

 uals. 



The crumpling of the elytra of Microschatia inaequalis 

 is inherent and fixed, and is entirely of a different order from 

 that observed in Coniontis. 



