84 • GEO. H. HORN, M. D. 



mined with but one exception. This condition forms a good basis 

 for the resumption of the study of the species. In the " Zoology 

 of Eugenics Resa" Boheman has described three species — atramen- 

 tarius, californicus and i)ifuscatus as from San Francisco, which luive 

 not been identified, and from the well-known errors of locality in 

 that work may be safely rejected from our faunal list, as well also S. 

 cijaneffcens Muls., which seems to be of a style of coloration unknown 

 in our species. S. arcuatus Rossi, a well-known European species 

 a]>pears in Crotch's " Check List" on the authority of a specimen 

 in LeConte's cabinet the origin of which could never be ascertained. 

 No other specimen has has ever been captured, and this name may 

 also be dropped. In the " Catalogus" a S. Jiorldanus jNIuIs. is given. 

 This was described as, and undoubtedly is, a HiiperaxpiH. A recent 

 examination of S. nigripennix Lee. shows it also to be a Hyperaspis. 



The present attempt to study Scymnus is merely an endeavor to 

 make a little advance, to separate our species with more certainty, 

 and finally to place in the hands of students some information by 

 means of v/hich still better results may be obtained. The separation 

 of the species is by no means an easy task, especially among those 

 in which the elytra are tipped with red. Scymnuii is one of those 

 genera in which nominal species can be most easily separated with a 

 paucity of material, the larger the series with the usual variations 

 the greater the difficulty. 



Scymnus varies in outline from broadly oval, in which the outline 

 is practically continuous, to oblong in some cases with the thorax 

 narrower than the elytra, thus interrupting the outline. 



The surface is always pubescent, but in a variable manner among 

 the species, as a general rule very sparsely in the species of the first 

 two divisions. In those in which the pubescence is distinct the hairs 

 may be arranged without order, or there may be a somewhat spiral 

 arrangement giving the surface a holosericeous appearance. To the 

 experienced eye this may be an aid in separating closely allied spe- 

 cies, but from the fugitive nature of the pubescence no mention is 

 made either of its existence or character in the descriptions which 

 follow. 



The head shows no characters of value in separating the s})ecies. 

 It has been observed, by LeConte and Mulsant, that the head is in 

 some species yellow in the male and piceous in the female, but this 

 is not constant, as the head may be in either color in the two sexes. 

 The antenme are nearly always pale in color. 



