432 BULLETIN g;}, united states national museum. 



subgenus Eleodes, except spon.sa^ caudifera^ and longipilosd which 

 have the profemora more or less obtusely armed or sinuate, and 

 besides have a rougher sculpturing, with differently formed elytral 

 ajjices, which render the diagnosis easy; in innoceni^ the elytra are 

 quite suddenly and arcuateh^ declivous and never in the least pro- 

 duced. 



Care must be taken not to confound siiecimens of the peninsular 

 form of insxUois with the present species. This mistake has already 

 been observed in collections. 



There is at hand a female insiddvh^ collected at Sierra San Lazaro, 

 Lower California, which has a subopaque luster and the elytra striato- 

 punctate, very similar to the sculpturing observed in innocens; the 

 apical angles are more acute and anteriorly prominent than in the 

 latter species. I had to resort to the examination of the genital seg- 

 ment to feel satisfied as to its true relationship. 



In innocens the antenna; are proportionally stouter than in most 

 species. 



In insidaris (peninsular form) the profemora are more distinctly 

 sinuate or obtusely dentate. 



General ob-servatio)is. — The mentum is variable, triangular, 

 triangulo-parabolic, sometimes triangulo-trapezoidal in outline; the 

 surface may be feebly convex to foveate lateralh^ wnth a median 

 convex ridge, rather finely and obsoletely to rather coarsely punctate, 

 each puncture with a short seta. Very variable considering the small 

 series before me. 



The prosternum moderately convex antero-posteriorly in the 

 median line, rather more gibbous and moderately wide between the 

 coxic, more or less grooved, scarcely widened behind and irregularly 

 sculptured; more or less produced posteriorly, the mucro scabrous 

 and more or less appressed to the body. 



Mesosternum almost flat to feebly oblique, broadly and moderately 

 concave. 



The abdominal intercoxal process is subquadrate and about a third 

 of its own width broader than the mesosternal salient: it is also equal 

 in length to the second abdominal segment. The post-coxal part of 

 the first segment is equal in length to that of the third, the latter 

 just a little longer than the fourth. 



The metasternum laterally between the coxjjc is about equal in 

 length to the width of a mesofemur at base. 



'I'he profemora are gradually and moderately clavate externally; 

 the tibial grooves are W(>11 developed, their margins well defined by 

 finely cariniform edges, which gradually converge to become contig- 

 uous at the femoral base; their floors are quite flat, scarcely concave. 



