86 BULLETIN 63, T^XTTED STATES NATIONAL MT^SET^M. 



The student Avill at times find it very difficult to decide whetlier a 

 given specimen (especially males) shall be referred to quadricollis or 

 omissa. 



In my experience the epistoma in quadricollis is always more 

 coarsely punctate than in ornissa. Specific differentiation is no more 

 difficult in this instance than is met with in other sections of the genus 

 Eleodes. 



The extreme forms or heterotypes of earhonaria and ohsoleta are 

 as difficult of separation as are the above, in fact, all the constituents 

 of the present section of the subgenus Melaneleodes might be consid- 

 ered as races and forms of a single species if viewed from a broad 

 evolutionary standpoint. 



The mentum is usually triangulo-trapezoidal, strongly punctate 

 and foveate laterally within the more or less strongly defined margins ; 

 the surface is longitudinally ridged at the middle. 



The prosternum is more or less strongly protuberant ventrally with 

 the coxse, and more or less longitudinally convex between the same, 

 usually grooved at the middle and rather distinctly margined around 

 the acetabula; frequently submucronately produced behind and at 

 times nearly vertically subtruncate. 



The mesosternum more or less concave and arcuately declivous. 



The intercoxal process of the abdomen is quadrate (male) to feebly 

 transverse (female) and about a third of its width wider than the 

 metasternal salient. 



The metasternum laterally between the coxae is as long as the width 

 of a mesofemur at the base. 



The post-coxal i)ortion of the abdomen is equal in length to that 

 of the process, and also to that of the third segment. 



In the male the second segment is about equal to the width of the 

 process, and the third is a half longer than the fourth. In the female 

 the second is twice as long as the fourth segment. 



The profemora are usually moderately clavate in the male and less 

 so in the female. The grooves are limited by rather strong margins, 

 which are more or less asperulate and converge near the base. 



The meso- and metafemora have their sui3erior and inferior sur- 

 faces quite parallel. The margins of the grooves are not strongl}^ 

 marked, are finely muricate, and become evanescent befoi'e becoming 

 contiguous. 



The tibia^ are frequently more or less arcuate and without tarsal 

 grooves: the articular cavities are closed. 



The tarsi are somewhat variable as regards to stoutness, fre- 

 quently rather more slender in the female. The jn-otarsi are usually 

 slightly thicker in the male and a])parently subecjual in the sexes. 



The protarsi are about two-fifths of their length shorter than a 

 mesotarsus. Joints two, three, and four are subequal in the male; 



