32 COLEOPTERA RHYNCHOPHORA. 



Type. — cf . Described from a good series taken on Mt. 

 Wilson in southern California. 



This, by the more shining and uniformly rather deeply 

 striate elytra is the best characterized species of the gentilis 

 group. As in proxima the eyes in the c? are separated by 

 scarcely more than two-thirds the width of the beak, and 

 thus make an approach to aliitacea, in which the approxima- 

 tion is still closer. In the 9 of striata the eyes are distant 

 about three-fourths the rostral width, the sexual disparity in 

 this respect being rather better marked than in any other of 

 the allied species. 



E. alutacea Lee. 



Beak in the 6^ stout, alutaceous and opaque, a little wider 

 beyond the base of the antennae, which is at about the apical 

 third. In the 9 the beak is more slender, less dull, the an- 

 tennae inserted at the middle. The eyes are less widely 

 separated in the d^ than in any species of the preceding 

 groups, their distance apart being about one-half the width 

 of the beak in the cf and three-fourths in the 9 . In all the 

 preceding species the eyes are separated by approximately 

 three-fourths the width of the beak in both sexes, the sexual 

 disparity being at most but slight. In striata and proxima 

 the eyes seem to be a trifle closer than in the other species 

 of the subgroup. Le Conte's description of alutacea is based 

 upon two specimens, both 9 's, one from the Colorado 

 Rockies, the other from Isle Royal, Lake Superior. The 

 first named bears the label and is to be considered the type. 

 It is alutaceous with a rather smooth silky lustre (under low 

 power), the elytral intervals rather wide and flat, the striae 

 unimpressed. In the Isle Royal specimen the striae are 

 slightly impressed, thus approaching somewhat gentilis in 

 appearance. In some examples from California and Oregon 

 the striae are obviously a little impressed and the sculp- 

 ture rougher, but these variations are gradual and not con- 

 fined to particular regions. From gentilis and from black 

 examples of lecofitei (var. tenebrosa), alutacea may in the ab- 

 sence of cf's be distinguished by the relatively longer and 

 more slender basal joint of the hind tarsi. The much more 



