H. C. FALL. 



129 



Mr. Wickham, who very kindly allows the type to remain in my 

 collection. The thorax is broader than in any other Conithassa, 

 and departs from the usual form in being widest near the middle. 

 In no other species known to me are the ruga? of the first ventral so 

 strongly developed. 



E. aterrimiis Mots. — Elongate, depressed, opaque, blackish, varying to 



ferruginous. Head densely bul not coarsely punctate, longitudinally sulcate ; 

 terapora parallel, about one-fonrth the length of the eyes; antennae short, 

 scarcely attaining the middle of the pronotnm ; club abruptly formed, compact. 

 joints nine and ten a little transverse, several of the preceding joints about as 

 wide as long. Prothorax transversely cordate, a little sinuate before the hind 

 angles, which are slightly obtuse; surface densely punctate, disk with a median 

 somewhat shallow impression anteriorly, and a deeper transverse antebasal de- 

 pression ; side margins finely serrulate. Elytra one-half wider than the pro- 

 thorax, subparallel. punctate-striate, the punctures closely placed and subrec- 

 tangular. only slightly liner apically, except in the two interior striae; intervals 

 nearly flat on the disk, a little convex near the margin, disk obliquely impressed 

 each side near the base. Sterna and first ventral densely punctate, remaining 

 ventral segments sparsely, finely punctulate. The punctures of the metasternuni 

 are a little coarser than those of the first ventral, aud nearly equally coarse and 

 evenly distributed throughout. (PI. IV, figs. 23. 23«), Length 1.6-1.9 mm. 



Hah. — Massachusetts; New York; District of Columbia; Mary- 

 land; West Virginia; Michigan; Canada; Illinois; Southern 

 California. 



This widely dispersed species is so exceedingly like the common 

 European brevicornis that I have been greatly tempted to unite 

 them. In his description of E. ferrugineus from a North American 

 specimen sent by Wickham, Belon notes that the metasternum is 

 uniformly punctate throughout, while it is decidedly more sparsely 

 and finely punctate at the middle than at the sides in brevicornis. 

 Belon mentions one or two other slight differences, which are, how- 

 ever, of no moment. Now ferrugineus is only the pale form of the 

 species described in 1866 by Motschulsky as aterrimus, and in 1878 

 by LeConte as opaeulus ; and since the deviation from European 

 specimens in the matter of metasternal punctuation seems tolerably 

 constant in all American specimens examined, our species is for the 

 present held to be distinct under the name used above. 



Yar. nitens. — This name is proposed for a slightly smaller and 

 more slender form, with both upper and under surface distinctly 

 shining. It is, perhaps, distinct, but there seems to be no other 

 characters to support such a view. A small series from Marquette, 

 Mich., in the Hubbard and Schwarz collection is all that I have seen. 



TRANS. AM. ENT. SOC. XXVI. (17) NOVEMBER, 1899. 



