404 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis. 



LeConte under the name Leptacinus pallidulus may or may 

 not belong to this genus, as I have not been able to 

 study it carefully ; the very small size of the species ren- 

 ders the generic reference somewhat doubtful. The single 

 specimen of nigritulus which was taken by the writer in the 

 environs of San Francisco, is probably a fortuitous importa- 

 tion from the eastern part of the 'country, and whether or not 

 it has since established itself in California is unknown to me 

 at present. 



Stictoliuus n. gen. 



We arrive here at a succession of genera differing rather 

 conspicuously from any of those previously described, in hav- 

 ing the pronotal punctures confused toward the sides, and, 

 accompanying this peculiarity, there is a general loss of the 

 flattened longitudinal line behind the eyes, although a ves- 

 tige of it may be traced occasionally, as in the genus Hes- 

 peroUnus, where its upper margin exists as a polished convex 

 impunctate edge from the eyes to the basal angles. In the 

 present genus there is scarcel}'^ a trace of the flattened line 

 and the flanks of the head are convex from the upper to the 

 under surface and continuously and evenly punctured. Sticto- 

 linus has the punctures more numerous and close-set than 

 most of those that follow, with a narrower impunctate line 

 along the middle of the head. The fourth palpal joint 

 is usually a little longer than the third, very finely and 

 gradually pointed but thicker at base or more conical 

 than in Leptacinus and more like that of Leptacinodes ; 

 it is also rather strongly oblique as in that genus. The 

 genus is peculiar in having no trace of the usual oblique 

 ocular frontal grooves, but the median pair are impressed and 

 distinct though rather short. The elytral punctures are con- 

 fused in arrangement over the entire surface, except one regular 

 series of more close-set punctures along the upper margin of 

 the deflexed flanks, which series is bordered internally by an 

 even, highly polished, impunctate line throughout the 

 length ; the punctures are generally somewhat more closely 

 aggregated toward the suture and sparser on the median 



