374 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol.88 



In these semiarid regions, also, many of the host plants are weakened 

 by drought, thus becoming suitable hosts for Renocis. Scorching of 

 the host by light ground fires also furnishes suitable breeding ma- 

 terial. On the other hand, the beetles' breeding activities in broken 

 limbs and shrubs and in shrubs and small trees weakened by other 

 causes may greatly increase the fire hazard. 



While the hosts affected by species of Renocis are not usually pro- 

 ducers of valuable wood, they are of great use as browse for both 

 wild and domestic herbivora and are valuable in binding the soil on 

 watersheds. Their destruction by fire and insects may result in 

 serious erosion of the watershed, silting of the storage basins, or even 

 disastrous landslides. Several species of Renocis are also known to 

 attack fruit trees and shrubs, but they are not known to be really 

 destructive in well-kept orchards. 



Drawings for the figures herein were made under the author's 

 supervision by Mrs. Eleanor A. Carlin, of the United States Bureau 

 of Entomology and Plant Quarantine. 



Genus RENOCIS Casey 



Renocis Casey, California Acad. Sci. Bull. 6, pp. 257-259, 1886. — Swaine, New 

 York State Mus. Bull. 134, p. 144, 1909; Canada Dept Agr. Ent. Branch, 

 Bull. 14, pt. 2, p. 39, 1918.— Bruck, Bull. Southern California Acad. Sci., 

 vol. 35, pt. 1, p. 41; pt. 2, pp. 119-120, 1936. (Genotype, Renoois hetero- 

 doxus Casey.) 



Pseudocryphalus Swaine, Canada Dept. Agr., Ent. Branch, Bull. 14, pt. 1, p. 20, 

 1917; pt. 2, pp. 40, 57, 1918.— Bruck, Bull. Southern California Acad. Sci., 

 vol. 35, pt. 1, p. 35; pt. 2, pp. 121-123, 1936. (Gentoype, Pseudocryphalus 

 brittami Swaine.) 



Description. — Body stout, usually less than twice as long as wide. 

 Head deflexed, slightly visible from above; frons concave in male 

 at least, with longer, coarser setae at sides and above; antenna! 

 funicle 5- jointed, club compressed, often elongate, with three annu- 

 late-setigerous sutures; eyes elongate, sinuate or feebly emarginate 

 in front. Pronotum deflexed, feebly arched, much wider than long, 

 strongly narrowed in front, anterior margin usually unarmed, but 

 with a fringe of erect setae, not sharply margined at sides, clothed 

 in recumbent scales, with two or three small groups of asperities on 

 disk at each side ; scutellum lacking. Elytra with base strongly ele- 

 vated and with coarse crenulations ; punctate striate; interspaces 

 clothed with recumbent scales, with a median row of erect setae on 

 each; declivity unmodified, impressed or sulcate. First and second 

 abdominal sternites subequal, each as long as third and fourth united ; 

 prosternum short but always present, partly or wholly concealed 

 by the bulbous forecoxae; marginal teeth on foretibia varying with 

 species from long and slender to short and stout. 



