40 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. 124 



23. Ptcrostichus {Leptoferonia) inanis Horn 



Figures 23, 24, 25 



Pterostichus inanis Horn, 1891, p. 32. — Casey, 1913, p. 125. — Van Dyke, 1925, 



p. 75.— Csiki, 1930, p. 582.— Hatch, 1936, p. 705; 1953, p. 113. 

 Leptoferonia inanis (Horn). — Casey, 1918, p. 337. — Leng, 1920, p. 56. 



Color of body. — Piceous. 



Head. — Eyes normally large and prominent; frontal impressions 

 sharp, divergent, sometimes double posteriorly; disc faintly micro- 

 reticulate, with sparse fine punctures. 



Pronotum. — Sides arcuate in anterior two-thirds, oblique in basal 

 third, sometimes slightly sinuate just before subrectangular hind 

 angles; base bisinuate; basal transverse impression extending from 

 outer impression to about inner impression; carina present between 

 strong outer impression and lateral margin; area between inner and 

 outer impressions tumid; microreticulate. 



Elytron. — Humeral tooth usually not acute; scutellar stria usually 

 complete, sometimes entirely absent; scutellar puncture absent; 

 setiferous punctures on eighth stria consisting of six in anterior 

 series, no intermediate, normally six, occasionally seven or eight, 

 punctures in posterior series; one seta at posterior end of seventh 

 stria; intervals usually convex; microreticulate. 



Ventral surface. — Coarse punctures confined to mesepisternum. 



Legs. — Hind trochanter long and evenly tapering to point, two- 

 thirds the length of hind femur and usually reaching beyond the 

 second setiferous puncture in males, somewhat shorter in females; 

 setae present on ventrolateral margins of last article of tarsus. 



Sixth abdominal sternum of male. — Unmodified. 



Aedeagus (fig. 23). — Right paramere short. Median lobe stout; 

 tip blunt and short; no well-defined strip. Internal sac with prominent 

 sclerotized tooth. 



Length of body. — 9.5 to 11 mm. 



Variation. — The above description and figure 23 are of Oregon 

 specimens from Lane County northward. I have not seen the holotype; 

 it probably is not from Oregon. This species occurs in at least four 

 forms; perhaps after further study, some of them should be named 

 subspecies or even full species. 



Specimens from three localities in Siskiyou and Lassen Counties, 

 Calif., have the same form of hind trochanter as Oregon specimens, 

 but the median lobe of the aedeagus is slightly longer and narrower. 



Specimens from nine localities from El Dorado County through 

 central Tuolumne County, Calif., have the hind trochanter much 

 more attenuate and longer. The median lobe of the aedeagus is 

 definitely longer and more slender, and the tip is narrower and extends 

 farther beyond the edge of the sac (see fig. 24). The elytral humeri 

 are more strongly defined and the dentation larger and often acute. 



