504 BULLETIN 63, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Female. — Genital segment (Plate 5, fi<>s. IG and IT) trianiiiilar, elon- 

 gate, general dorsal surface plane and glabrous, appendages absent. 



Valvula fullj'^ chitinized, apex not differentiated from the dorsal 

 plate, surface slightl}^ irregular, at middle minutely and ocellately 

 punctured, a minute seta arising from each puncture, apex slightly 

 deflexed and subacute, very feebly convex above; external border 

 broadly and feel)ly sinuate at middle, arcuate basally and apically; 

 interna] margins rather straight in apical two-thirds, arcuate and 

 converging from base where they are moderately distant to become 

 contiguous at middle third. 



Snjjerior pudendal memhrane long, reaching to the base of the 

 apical region, very finelj^ longitiidinall}'^ rugulose. 



Ventrolateral surfaces convex basally, less so towards apex, mod- 

 erately concave beneath the slightly deflexed apices; internal margins 

 of the valves contiguous basally and apically, genital fissure fusiform 

 and just basad to the middle: submarginal groo\e obsolete, some- 

 what evident beneath the apical margin. Dorsal plate not at all 

 explanate. Apical two-thirds very sparsely and finely pubescent. 



The following two species can be credited to our fauna : 



Blaps similis Latreille. 



Blaps mucranata Latreille. 



I shall not attempt a specific diagnosis. Doctor George Horn com- 

 pared native specimens with the European and dispelled any previous 

 doubts about their correct identification." 



Tlahitat. — A few specimens of mucranata occurred near Baltimore, 

 Maryland. Similis occurs abundantly at Alexandria, Virginia. 



I have had the j^rivilege of studying a series in the collection of the 

 U. S. National Museum, said to have come from West Virginia (Riley 

 ColL) ; figs. IG and 17, Plate 5, w^ere taken from a broad female from 

 that series. A small series was kindly loaned me by Mr. Charles 

 Waterhouse, of the British Museum, including what is supposedly 

 correctly identified specimens of similis^ mortisa<ja. and mucronata. 

 Besides these, I examined a series rather recently obtained from 

 London (British JMuseum), England, by Miss Julia Wriglit. 



The specimens in our American collections do not seem to be defi- 

 nitely labeled. Mr. Liebeck, of Philadelphia, writes me that in his 

 collection is a specimen from Alexandria, Virginia, labeled as c/'/hha: 

 one from Boston, Massachusetts, taken in a warehouse, identical with 

 a specimen (European) in the Horn collection of similis; two labeled 

 TnucTonata., supposedly from (^mada. 



Li the Horn collection (Academy of Natural Science, in Phila- 

 delphia) there ai-c three forms — one a broad form taken by Doctor 

 Castle at Alexandria, Virginia, and labeled gihha; two forms have 



"Sec Ciii. lOiit.. X\"I. p. oT, jil. xxi. 



