286 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis. 



confounded, except by Dr. Sharp, who suggests the propriety 

 of their generic isolation. They are very decisively dis- 

 tinguished from Gyrophaena by the structure of the broad 

 intermesocoxal parts, the metasternal projection advancing in 

 Phanerota nearly to the middle of the acetabula, the meso- 

 sternal process being correspondingly abbreviated. The species 

 vary to a remarkable degree in point of size, those in my 

 cabinet being definable as follows : — 



Species inhabiting the Atlantic districts, including the Island of Cuba.... 2 



Species inhabiting the Peninsula of Lower California 7 



2 — Eyes always separated on the front by distinctly more than twice their 

 own width. Body stout, subparallel, moderately convex, highly pol- 

 ished, the integuments wholly devoid of trace of micro -reticulation, 

 except the abdomen, which is finely and rather feebly reticulate ; color 

 pale flavate with distinct reddish tinge, the head, elytra in apical third 

 or fourth, except at the suture, and fourth tergite, except at the lateral 

 margins, black or piceous-black; head transverse with a number of 

 rather coarse punctures toward the eyes; antennae slender, moderately 

 incrassate distally, extending to about basal third of the elytra; pro- 

 thorax not quite twice as wide as long, only very slightly wider than 

 the head, parallel and rounded at the sides, arcuate at base, very re- 

 motely and obsoletely punctulate, the two punctures behind the middle, 

 separated by about a fourth of the width, especially distinct; elytra well 

 developed, about a fifth wider and one-half longer than the prothorax, 

 finely, sparsely punctate, the humeri rather widely exposed; abdomen 

 at base nearly as wide as the elytra, thence gradually narrower to the 

 apex, very minutely, obsoletely punctulate toward the apices of the 

 segments, sparsely, coarsely pubescent. Male with the outer apical 

 angles of the elytra slightly swollen; sixth tergite with two short, 

 widely separated porrect processes, rounded at tip and impressed on 

 their outer sides posteriorly; between them the apex is produced in a 

 short rounded lobe, very much shorter than the processes, the lobe 

 being the apical outline of a broad smooth swelling of the surface; 

 female with the elytral angles unmodified, the sixth tergite subconical 

 with the apex truncate, the truncature sinuate throughout its width, the 

 sinus about five times as wide as deep. Length 1.4-2.5 mm. ; width 0.62- 

 0.9 mm. Rhode Island and Pennsylvania. [^=Aleochara fasc. Say (not 

 preoccupied in Phanerota) and vinula Er.] fasciata Say 



Eyes more convex, separated on the front by not more than twice their own 

 width 3 



3 — Abdomen in great part pale, the blackish coloration involving the fourth 

 tergite more or less, the apex always pale i 



Abdomen in great part black, pale near the base and generally at the immed- 

 iate apex 5 



Abdomen clearly blcolored, the anterior half pale, the posterior black, the 

 line of demarcation abruptly defined and not nubilous or indefinite as 

 it is in the two preceding groups, the apex not pale 6 



