AMERICAN COLEOPTERA. 260 



31. C plafyclerilS, Chaud. — Body beneath black, legs pale, above violet- 

 blue, elytra slightly darker. Head coarsely punctured posteriorly and above 

 the eyes. Antennae rufous, three basal joints paler. Thorax broader than long, 

 base broader than apex, sides in front feebly arcuate, posteriorly slightly con- 

 verging but not sinuate, basal impressions feeble, surface densely and coarsely 

 punctured. Elytra finely striate, strife distinctly punctured near the base, 

 becoming finer toward the apex, intervals flat, moderately densely and finely 

 jiunctured, sparsely pubescent. Prosternum margined at tip, coarsely punc- 

 tured in front, episterna coarsely but not densely punctured. Metasternal 

 episterna shorj;, coaisely punctured. Abdomen as in niger. Length .58 inch ; 

 14.5 mm. 



Male with anterior femora rather strongly subangulate at base. 



Chaudoir has provisionally placed this species as a synonym of 

 tjij^tn'x with these words : " I here reunite provisionally plafjjderns^ 

 of which the thorax is more flat, also the disc of the elytra, because 

 I know at this moment but one individual." This one individual was 

 probably a female. The differences besides those mentioned above are, 

 thorax more densely punctured and broader, and especially the anterior 

 femur of the male, where the subangulation is as distinct as in sesfiviis, 

 while in diffjiiis the the femora are absolutely simple. I have no hesi- 

 tation whatever in separating this as a distinct species. 



Occurs in Illinois, Kan., Nebraska, N. Mex. and Indian Territory. 



32. C (lidiuis, Chaud. — Beneath black, legs pale, above bluish with a tinge 

 of green, elytra darker. Head coarsely punctured, smooth at middle and iu 

 front. Antennae brown, three basal joints paler. Thorax nearly as long as 

 wide, base very little broader than apex, sides in front moderately arcuate, 

 behind slightly converging, not sinuate, disc moderately convex, densely and 

 coarsely punctured. Elytra striate, striae with rather distant punctures, inter- 

 vals flat, moderately densely punctulate. Prosternum, side pieces, and abdo- 

 men as in the preceding. Length .50 — .60 inch; 12.5 — 15 mm. 



Anterior femora of male simple. 



This is the species which we have called laficollis^ Say, and which 

 Chaudoir emphatically denies. It appears that Say sent specimens 

 of his species to Dejean, the collection of the latter is now in the 

 possession of Chaudoir. [t cannot be denied that Say has on several 

 occasions distributed and named specimens which wex'e not identical 

 with his types. It is barely possible that an error of the latter kind 

 may have occurred in this instance, but the fact still remains that a 

 type if we may call it so, of laticoUix, is now in the collection of 

 Chaudoir. Whatever predilections we may have in favor of our own 

 determinations of Say's species, I hardly think it safe to deny the 

 validity of the sole remaining specimen which has been labellt^d by 

 him. I therefore adopt the present name. 



Occurs in the Middle States region. 



