96 



I have one c? , wholly black, which measures only .19 in., 

 and which was found in" sexual connection with a 9 meas- 

 urino- .33 in. ! ! ! and which answers in most respects to Say's 

 description of C. vittata. I seldom find two in connection 

 which resemble each other in size or color ; and it ought to be 

 observed, that on account of the brevity of their existence, cop- 

 ulation seems to be their first object, so that one may observe 

 hundreds in that act. They run fost, but are easily captured. 

 I have an indistinct recollection that I formerly caught one in 

 the summer, but since the wild plum's blossoms are out, I have 

 not seen a single individual, although I have surveyed the 

 flowers of many other trees. 



I believe you wrote me in a former letter that you had the 

 $ of my 402 QHallomenus ? ohliquatiis Fabr. ?) and that the 

 fifth,! sixth and seventh joints had a brush beneath. I have at 

 last found a male which corresponds entirely with your descrip- 

 tion. The antennae must at once distinguish that species from 

 my 721 [= "-Helops pimelius Fabr. teste Germ." Hentz's mss. 

 CataL], from which it differs chiefly in having the sixth joint 

 much smaller than the fifth and seventh. Notwithstanding the 

 difference in the scutel, etc., I had some doubts, which are now 

 entirely removed, about their forming two distinct species. 



I •will give you an account of an insect wdiich has puzzled me 

 more than any in all my entomological studies, — that coleopter- 

 ous insect which diffuses a strong odor of spearmint, and is al- 

 ways found where that plant grows, in very wet ground, under 

 stones. I never found it in a dry place. I beheve it must 

 Ijelong. to some osculant genus between the Carahidce and 

 Staphylinidce. It may certainly be said to have six palpi, as 

 many2 of the Carahidce. The external lobe of the maxilla, 

 which in the insects of that family assumes the form of an 

 additional palpus, is distinctly articulated in this with the 



1 The fourth has no brusli beneath. 



2 I sav many ; because in many tlie lateral lobe is not much like a palpns. 



