648 Goleopterological Notices, VI. 



TOMODERUS Laf. 



The species of this well marked genus very closely resemble 

 each other in general appearance. The}^ are robust and convex 

 in body, with stout, moniliform, strongl}^ incrassate and perfoliate 

 antennae, deeply segmented prothorax, subserial elytral punctu- 

 ation, moderately developed mesosternal plate and stout clavate 

 femora. 



The hind coxae are widely separated by a short, broadly rounded 

 projection of the first abdominal segment, the tibial spurs appar- 

 ently wholly obsolete, and the fourth palpal joint moderately de- 

 veloped, triangular and obliquely truncate. The eyes are rather 

 small, moderately convex and somewhat coarsely faceted. The 

 transverse dorsal constriction of the pronotum is generally more 

 or less distinctly and coarsel}^ sculptured at the bottom, and the 

 basal marginal line is wholly obsolete; the apical collar is also- 

 obsolete or extremel}^ rudimentary, the head being in close con- 

 tact with the anterior lobe of the prothorax, and the neck some- 

 what wider as well as shorter than in Anthicus. 



Our three species may be thus distinguished : — 



Anterior lobe of the pronotum without an impressed median line. 



Elyti'al punctures distinct throughout, becoming very gradually coarser and 



confusedly subserial in arrangement toward base 1. al)1)reTiatus 



Elytral punctures very fine, becoming abruptly coarse and distinctly seriate 

 in basal third or fourth ; apical segment of the abdomen longer in both 



sexes 2. coiistrictus 



Anterior lobe broader and generally more narrowlj^ rounded at the sides, hav- 

 ing a feebly impressed median canalieulatiou which does not attain the 

 apex ; elytra shorter, the sculpture nearly as in ahbreviatus, the piibescence 

 denser 3. impressultis 



Tomoderus, as here understood, extends throughout the United 

 States, east of the Rock}' Mountains and far into Mexico, but 

 does not occur near the Pacific coast. 



1. T. interruptus Laf. — Mon., p. 97; Lee: Proc. Acad., Phila., 1852^ 

 p. 94. 



Stout, convex, highly polished throughout, blackish, the elytra 

 rufescent in basal half; pubescence of the anterior parts very 

 sparse and inconspicuous, these subimpunctate, that of the elytra 

 moderate in length, suberect, not very dense though rather coarse. 

 Eljtral punctures arranged in very uneven series toward base,. 



