212 



cupreous lustre of the latter ; is a more slender insect ; the 

 head is narroAver ; the thorax not so wide and more contracted 

 behind the middle, is destitute of punctures on the basal edge, 

 and the basal fovese are smaller ; the coleoptra are more pro- 

 longed behind, and not so obtusely rounded ; the external strias 

 near the tip are not so nfiich angulated, and there is no vestige 

 of the obsolete impressed fovea which is found adjacent to these 

 angulated stri;\3 in my species ; the stria3 are not so deeply im- 

 pressed, and the little punctures in them want the decidedly 

 shining, brassy color of B. americana; tlie large, impressed 

 fove» are similarly placed, but are smaller and not so deep.^ 



Upon examination and careful comparison of your typical 

 NotiophUl^ the following results were obtained : — 



1. Your No. 422 is the true porrectus of Say. Herbst's de- 

 scription of ceneus applies also well enough to it ; but his figure 

 (bad enough, doubtless, and probably incorrect) is widely dif- 

 ferent. 



2. Your specimen from Lake Superior is the semistriatus of 

 Say, agreeing exactly in size, form, color, and sculpture with 

 my specimen from Pennsylvania. Your 421 is also identical 

 with semistriatus, differing from my typical one in being rather 

 smaller. 



3. Your 423 and the specimen ticketed novemstriatus, consti- 

 tute but one species ; not the semistriatus of Say, but the species 

 which I long ago named quadrifoveatus, and which by that 

 name I have distributed among my correspondents in Europe. 

 It is the analogue of the European biguttatus, from which, how- 

 ever, it differs in mj^ny obvious characters. You will see that it 

 has near the tip of each elytron an oblong fovea, wliich, taken 

 with the ordinary one before the middle of each elytron, sug- 

 gested the descriptive name quadrifoveatus. I regret that such 



1 Having examined more than ii dozen specimens of B. quadricolUs, I may say that 

 the differences mentioned in the above letter are not specific, but merely individual. 

 At the time the comparison was made by Dr. Harris, but one Lake Superior specimen 

 of quadncdlts was known ; since then it has been found not unfrequently in Northern 

 Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan. [J. L. L.] 



