274 BULLETIN 63, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Valvula (Plate 4, fig. 18). — Dorsal plate suboblong, and widened 

 somewhat in basal half; surface deeply concave, very sparsely and 

 finely punctate, setulose ; margins more or less reflexed ; external 

 border subangulate at junction of the middle and basal thirds, thence 

 straight or feebly sinuate to apical margin, the latter more or less 

 feebly arcuate Avith the angle evenly and rather broadly rounded; 

 internal margin more or less feebly arcuate. Aj^ex narrow and more 

 or less chitinous, rather acute and finely setose at tip, setae quite short 

 and not noticeable over the general surface. 



Appendage strongly flattened, quite large and semioval, about as 

 long as the apex, quite densely punctate in apical half and rather 

 densely set Avith long hairs. Fossa narrow, margin fringed with 

 sparsely placed and moderately long seta^ that become rather dense 

 at the angle. Submarginal groove very fine and more or less visible 

 from above. 



Superior pudendal membrane reaching slightly beyond the middle 

 of the dorsal plate, and with three or four longitudinal rugula?. 

 Valvular membranes visible beyond the pudendal membrane. 



Ventrolateral surfaces. — Body evenly convex in basal half and 

 more or less transversely and rather broadly impressed before the 

 apices; surface smooth and shining, rather evenly punctate and 

 setose, setae short and reclinate. Internal margins of the valves 

 contiguous in basal half. Genital fissure very narrowly fusiform and 

 nearly closed. 



Halntat. — Three specimens before me were collected by myself at 

 San Diego on the Coronado peninsula. They were in company with 

 omissa^ beneath some roots of Yucca haccata. 



Number of specimens studied, 3. More recently 9 others. 



Type in the LeConte collection. 



Type-locality. — San Diego, California. 



Salient type-characters. — Thorax finely and not densely punctate, 

 sides rounded, somewhat narrowed posteriorly, basal angles obtuse. 

 Elytra with apex attenuated, punctures more or less distinctly 

 serially arranged, intervals sparsely punctulate. Femora always 

 somewhat briefly dentate (LeConte). 



Diagnostic characters. — This race is to be separated from imlitaris 

 by the femoral teeth being more obtuse. The thorax is less broad, 

 especially in the females (?), and the elytra are slightly more atten- 

 uated at apex; the antero-posterior convexity of the dorsal surface 

 of the insect is slightly more evident. 



In my opinion femorata is undoubtedly a more northern modifi- 

 cation of militaris., and in a large series this view would, no doubt, 

 be verified. 



It is interesting to note that LeConte's descriptions of armata 

 and femorata are the same, word for word, except : " elytris parum 



