Casey — A Revision of the American Paederini. 149 



continually transported in articles of commerce, as there is 

 no variation, even of a varietal nature, to denote long estab- 

 lishment in any particular locality, but, whether originating 

 in America or Europe, is a question not yet solved; the 

 probabilities are that the genus was originally exclusively 

 American. The three species in my cabinet may be readily 

 known as follows from the male : — 



Male with a fringe of short black spinules in median third of the fifth 

 ventral. Body moderately blender, subfusiform, feebly convex, pale 

 brown throughout and dull in lustre, the head black; punctures fine and 

 extremely close-set, subgranuliform on the elytra; head rather wider 

 than long, subparallel at the sides, the angles rather broadly round. d; 

 eyes at not quite their own length from the base; antennae somewhat 

 longer than the head and prothorax, the latter slightly wider than the 

 head, a little wider than long, the sides parallel and feebly arcuate ; 

 base and apex broadly, equally and subevenly arcuate, the angles obtuse 

 but only slightly rounded; median smooth line obsolete; elytra 

 quadrate, parallel, two- fifths wider anil longer than the prothorax; 

 abdomen parallel with the sides broadly arcuate, narrower than the 

 elytra throughout. Male with a large subparabolic emargination, 

 much wider than deep, occupying the entire width of the sixth ventral, 

 the surface along each side of the sinus broadly, feebly impressed and 

 bearing a dense tuft of long pale hairs; apex of the fifth transversely 

 truncate, the spinules in median third turned inward. Length 3.7 

 mm.; width 0.7 mm. America (from the Atlantic to the Pacific) and 

 Europe. [= Metaxyodonta alutacea and quadricollis Csy.]. 



ochracea Grav. 

 Male without trace of median spinules at the apex of the fifth ventral.. 2 

 2 — Form similar to ochracea, the size somewhat smaller; coloration, lustre 

 and sculpture similar; head similar to that of ochracea, the eyes large 

 and at di-tinctly less than their own length from the base; gular 

 sutures similarly strongly impressed but rather less approximate, 

 being well separated; prothorax equal in width to the head, similar in 

 form to that of ochracea; elytra large, quadrate, parallel, two-fifths 

 wider and longer than the prothorax; abdomen arcuate at the sides 

 behind the middle, scarcely narrower than the elytra. Male with the 

 fifth ventral very feebly sinuate toward the middle of the apex; sixth 

 with a large parabolic sinus, wider than deep, occupying the entire 

 width, the surface at the sides not impressed, the lateral edges of the 

 sinus bristling with very long close-set hairs. Length 2.9 mm.; width 



0.62 mm. Southern California, — Mr. Fail simplex n. sp. 



Form more slender, the size still smaller, darker and more piceous in 

 color with the head black, but similarly dull in lustre and densely 

 punctulate; head fully as long as wide, parallel and nearly straight at 

 the sides, the angles similarly moderately rounded; eyes much smaller, 

 at distinctly more than their own length from the base; antennae more 

 slender and much shorter, not as long as the head and prothorax; 



