444 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. 117 



coarsely and densely punctured; terminal two abdominal sternites 

 with sparse, very fine punctures, each of which bears a fine seta. 

 Male aedeagus (pi. 6, fig. 55) with massive, heavily sclerotized struts 

 extending well beyond basal sclerite; lateral lobes narrow, feebly 

 sclerotized except at base, acutely pointed and slightly divergent 

 apically; penis with a pair of heavily sclerotized basolateral processes 

 which protrude laterally when penis is everted (pi. 6, fig. 56). Meas- 

 urements: length 2.2-3.1 mm.; width 1.0-1.4 mm. 



Remarks. — The color pattern consisting of two dark elytral cross- 

 bands against a reddish-brown ground color, the vestiture of fine setae 

 clothing the dorsal surface, and the distinctive development of the 

 male clypeus separates this species from its relatives. 



Neither Say nor Stephens mentioned the male clypeus, which leads 

 one to suspect that they had only females before them. It was 

 Jacquelin du Val (1861) who first alluded to this character. 



The species was well Imown for many years both in the United 

 States and in Europe, the only point of confusion being in the name. 

 Almost every faunal list contains a reference to it under any one of 

 about a dozen names. A number of fine illustrations, many of them 

 in color, are available, notably those of Stephens (1832), Reitter 

 (1911a), Zacher (1927), Back and Cotton (1922, 1953, 1955) and 

 Cotton (1941, 1950, 1956). The immature stages are figured by 

 Schi0dte (1879). Many notes on the biology and economic impor- 

 tance have appeared and are nicely summarized by Chittenden (1917). 



Horn (1870) was apparently the first to use the name in its present 

 combination. Phyletes and Phyhthus of Redtenbacher are direct 

 synonyms which were later (Redtenbacher, 1858) refuted by the 

 author himself, along with his trivial name, populi. 



The color pattern is constant enough to be quite reliable, but 

 occasionally specimens are encountered in which the two dark elytral 

 crossbands are united, leaving the elytra black except for an un- 

 interrupted hght crossband near the base. It is this phase that was 

 called "aberration unifasciatus" by Donisthorpe (1925). At the 

 other extreme in pigmentation are teneral examples in which the entire 

 pattern is more or less obliterated, of which Alphitobius [sic] quad- 

 ripustulatus Stephens judaeus Roubal (1929), based on a single male, 

 should prove to be an example. 



A survey of the literature indicates that A. bifasciatus is primarily 

 fungivorous and may be found out-of-doors under bark, in decaying 

 vegetable matter, and other debris in natural situations. It may be- 

 come locally abundant in granaries, mills, warehouses, stables, and 

 other places where spoiled grain is allowed to accumulate and mold. 

 In no instance has it been actually observed attacking sound grain 

 or freshly milled products (Chittenden, 1917). It has been sue- 



