36 BULLETIN 63, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Subgenus MELANELEODES, new. 



Anterior spurs of the anterior tibise dissimiliar in the sexes, and 

 more or less curved. Longer and slightly thicker than the posterior 

 in the male ; notabl}" longer, much broader and stouter and most 

 strongly curved in the female. 



In the males of humeralis and rileyi the anterior spurs are much 

 more strongl}^ developed than in the same sex of the other species of 

 the subgenus. 



The anterior femora are mutic and the first joint of the anterior 

 tarsi is more or less thickened and feebly produced at tip beneath in 

 both sexes. The male generally has a minute pencil of yellowish or 

 brownish modified spinules on the produced tip; this is surrounded 

 by a few closely placed, ordinary piceous spinules; in the female the 

 produced tip bears only a few ordinary spinules. 



Suhgeneric genital characters — Male. — Apicale of tlie edeagophore 

 triangidar, distinctly longer than wide, more or less convex above, 

 with a more or less well marked semimembranous median groove; 

 apex more or less acute and rather attenuated ; base more or less lobed 

 at middle. 



The membrane closing the interlobar sinus of the sternite is always 

 more or less sparsely setose across the bottom of the sinus. This 

 character is rarely observed in any other subgenus. 



Female. — Genital segment quadrate to trapezoidal. P^ach valve 

 has the dorsal plate oblong and more or less distinctly explanate ex- 

 ternally. The external lohe of apex is strongly developed^ the inter- 

 nal small and rudimentary. The appendage is mammilliform, rarely 

 Aisible from above, and directed backward and inwards. 



Superior pudendal membrane is longitudinally rugulose, reaching 

 apically to the base of the internal apical lobe. 



The greater development of the external lobe of the apex is the 

 most distinctive subgeneric character and is not observed in any other 

 division of the genus Eleodes. 



I can not at present devise a scheme by which the genital charac- 

 ters can be used in the diagnosis of species; they apparently vary 

 sufficiently to obscure the few constant specific characters. 



Variafionx. — The individuals constituting the specific aggregations 

 of the present subgenus are particularly prone to pronotal variations. 

 This apparent instability is due to th(^ degree to which the pronotal 

 sides are arcuately deflexed, and a certain amount to the degree to 

 which the extreme margin is carried downward and more or less 

 inflexed against the pr<)i)leui-a' as it were. The actual marginal curve 

 is quite constant in each species making up Group I. 



