PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



VOL. 21 JANUARY, Hi Mi No. 1 



NOTE ON MACROBASIS MURINA LECONTE (COLEO.j. 

 BY W. S. FISHER, U. S. Bureau of Entomology. Washington, D. C. 



In 1853 LeConte in his "Synopsis of the Meloides of the United 

 States" (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., VI, p. 344) described a 

 species of Meloidae under the name Lytta marina from two male 

 specimens from Lake Superior. When Dr. Horn wrote his "Re- 

 vision of the Species of Several Genera of Meloidae of the United 

 States" (Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc., XIII, p. 92 (1873)) he placed 

 this species as a synonym of Macrobasis unicolor Kirby with the 

 following remark: "The species known as murina appears to be 

 merely a badly developed form and not entitled to rank as a 

 species." After this date the name has been dropped entirely 

 from our lists. 



Among a lot of specimens received from Mr. F. E. Cobb, 

 Mandan, North Dakota, there was a series of both sexes of this 

 species which shows it to be quite distinct from unicolor, with 

 which it has been placed as a synonym, and therefore, LeConte's 

 name will have to be restored to our lists as a valid species. 



It is closely related to unicolor and at first glance may be mis- 

 taken for a rubbed specimen of that species, but on closer ob- 

 servation, it can be easily distinguished from that species by the 

 sparse pubescence which is almost invisible on some of the specimens, 

 allowing the surface of the elytra to be plainly seen and giving 

 the beetle a blackish appearance, while in unicolor, the pubescence 

 is more dense and conspicuous, nearly obscuring the surface of the 

 elytra and giving the beetle a cinerous appearance. In murina 

 the second joint of the antennae in the male is nearly as long 

 as the following three joints united, slightly arcuate and com 

 pressed, being twice as wide as the third which is cylindrical, 

 while in unicolor the second joint in the male is scarcely as long 

 as the following two joints united, straight and only slightly 

 compressed. 



Mr. Cobb submitted specimens of both species with his letter 

 of June 22, 1917, in which he writes, "These have been proving 

 quite a serious menace to the Caraana sp. growing at tin- station. 

 They appear to be two species. The medium and small black and 



