l6o ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [April, '08 



Thyce fieldii n. sp. 



Of the usual form, head and thorax piceous, elytra blackish brown, 

 legs paler brown, vestiture pale ochreous. Head densely clothed with 

 elongate scales and fine erect hair, prothorax and elytra with rather 

 sparse recumbent acuminate scales, which are as a rule from two 

 and one-half to three times as long as wide ; sterna densely clothed 

 with long cinerous or ochreo-cinerous hair, venter densely cinero- 

 squamulose. Clypeus sinuato-truncate ($) or arcuato-truncate (?). 

 Prothorax four-fifths as long as wide, sides parallel in basal three- 

 fifths, surface polished and finely rather sparsely punctate, especially 

 toward the middle posteriorly ; median line impressed and punctured. 

 Elytra nearly parallel, finely feebly somewhat densely punctate, with- 

 out costae; suture densely clothed with white scales. Length 22-23^2 

 mm. 



Male. Antennal club subequal in length to entire stem, last joint 

 of maxillary palpi fully three-fourths as long as the antennal club, 

 with a broad, deep, oval excavation throughout its length. Front tibiae 

 entirely devoid of teeth except the apical one. Outer claw of each 

 tarsus with an acute tooth which is about one-third as long as the api- 

 cal portion of the claw ; tooth of inner claw of front tarsus about 

 one-half as long as that of the outer claw ; the disparity evident, but 

 less marked on middle and hind feet. 



Female. Brown throughout, a little wider behind, vestiture sparser, 

 clypeus smaller, the angles rounded ; head with the vertex obtusely 

 tumid. Antennal club about three-fourths the length of the preced- 

 ing joints; last joint of maxillary palpus half as long as the antennal 

 club ; front tibije strongly bi dentate ; tarsi a little shorter ; teeth of 

 claws smaller than in the male, but showing nearly same disparity. 



Five examples (4 males, i female) of this fine species are 

 before me, all collected by Mr. Field, in the southern part 

 of San Diego County, California. 



The simple front tibise of the male, bidentate in the female, 

 and the polished sparsely punctured thorax distinguish this 

 species at once and remarkably from all previously described 

 forms. It is dedicated with pleasure to its discoverer from 

 whom I received one male taken in the summer of 1906, at 

 Campo elevation 2,400 feet. It was at once recognized as 

 a new species and I wrote Mr. Field urging him to go for 

 them again the following summer, when it was hoped fe- 

 males might be secured. A visit to the same region last July 

 was successful, and Mr. Field has kindly sent me three more 

 males and one female from his catch. Only two or three of 



