578 G. R. CROTCH, M. A. 



B. lepida. Muls. Trim., p. 523. 4,— Sub-quadrate, yellow, sternum, middle 

 of ventral segments and base of femora black; thorax with the base broadly 

 black, 4-dentate, the margin hardly visible; elytra with a common sutnral 

 spot not reaching the base, strongly narrowed behind the middle, and emitting 

 a recurved hook before the apex which it does not reach ; also each with two 

 rounded black spots, one before and one behind the middle ; punctuation fine, 

 undersurface sparingly and faintly punctate. L. 



Texas. (Leconte.) Mexico. 



B. dentipes, (Fab.) Syst. El i., 381, 134.— Convex, oblong, black; tarsi, 

 knees, sides of thorax, elytra with an anterior fascia and a posterior sub-apical 

 spot, orange (the fascia is interrupted at the suture and is of very variable 

 width) ; elytra clearly punctate, undersurface closely punctate. L. 



% , head and front margin of thorax, and sides broadly yellow*; third ven- 

 tral segment with two tubercles, fourth depressed. £>, head with a vertical 

 spot pale. 



Mexico, Georgia, Kansas, Illinois, Texas. 



Var. tau, Lee. — Spots confluent, thorax entirely orange, elytra black at the 

 base and with two medial spots black. — Kansas. 



Var. qualrillum, Lee. — Fascia obsolete, apical spot well marked. — Texas. 



B. ursiiia, (Fabr.) Mant. i., 61, 98. — Convex, oval, underside black, base of 

 femora infuscate; elytra each with five yellow spots; one humeral, one larger, 

 basal, two medial (one marginal, one discoidal), one sub-apical, free; punctua- 

 tion clear, underside sparingly punctate. L, 



^ , head and front margin of thorax yellow. 9 > head yellow. 



a. — 10-pustulata, (Mels.) Proe. Phil, iii., p. 179. — Much smaller, female 

 sometimes with the head black, and an orange spot on the vertex. 



b— flavifrons, Muls. Trim., p. 531, 9.— Similar to the type, but with the dis- 

 coidal spot absent. 



c. — basalis, Mels. 1. c; confusa, Muls. Trim., p. 537, 13. — Again similar, 

 smaller, apparently more rounded, and with both the medial spots obsolete. 



</. — albifrons, Say, J. Phil, iv., 94. — Elytral spots suffused, leaving two black 

 spots on each elytron. 



This species is excessively variable in size and markings, but after 

 an attentive study of the specimens in Dr. Leconte's cabinet I am un- 

 able to discover any character to separate them. 



It appears to be larger and more variable iu the South than in the 

 North, it extends from Lake Superior to Texas, but does not go west- 

 ward. Intermediate forms between all the races can be found. 



B. 4-punctata, Mels. Proc. Phil. 1. c; diversa, Muls. Trim., 538, 14.— 

 Also extremely like B. ursina, but distinctly rounded, the basal and apical 

 spots alone present, the anterior margin of the thorax is very narrowly yellow 

 in the male, also the humeral angle is yellow in that sex; in the female the 

 head is either black or with an angulated yellow V-like mark ; the first ven- 

 tral segment has the process deeply punctured at its apex. L. 

 Illinois, Massachusetts, Georgia. 



