Vol. xxi.\| ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. II 



perfectly evident to the writer that the race mnscnla becomes 

 broader to the northward and narrower to the southward. 

 If the labels were removed from the normal form taken at 

 Tehachapi Pass and mixed with those of the northern form 

 it would be impossible to positively separate them again. The 

 transition is complete from globulina to mnscnla. The sub- 

 genus Brachyontis is without foundation when a large series 

 is studied and the variations noted. Compare the descriptions 

 of globulina and muscula. 



Bibliography. Casey, Thos. L. A Revision of the Tenebrionid Sub- 

 family Coniontinae. Proc. Wash. Acad. Sciences, Vol. X, p. 141. 



Coniontis montana Casey. 



According to Casey's description the salient characteristics 

 of this species are its 



"oblong, stout and parallel form, conspicuous fulvous pubescence and 

 dull lustre. 



"Length 10.8-13.0 mm.; width 4.9-6.2 mm." 



By these characters it can be diagnosed from all of the 

 other species of Coniontis. The value of other characters as 

 aids in diagnosis will be considered below. Mr. F. \Y. Nunen- 

 macher has, by persistent collecting in southern Oregon, 

 northern and northwestern California, amassed a series of 

 forty-five specimens. These, with the results of the writer's 

 own collecting, give a total of eighty specimens, from which 

 the following observations have been made. 



Distribution. The specimens were collected in the follow- 

 ing States and counties: California (Calaveras, Alpine, El- 

 dorado, Placer, Sierra, Plumas, Lassen, Shasta and Siskiyou 

 Counties) ; Oregon (Josephine County.) A smaller series of 

 twelve specimens have been separated as C. canonica Casey. 

 These were collected in Klamath County, Oregon ; part of 

 these are intermediates between montana and canonica. 



As considerable use has been made of the characters present- 

 ed by the prosternal process, I shall give the results of an ex- 

 amination of a series taken in the order in which they happen 

 to be placed in the cabinet box, and therefore not selected to 

 prove any preconceived notion. 



