24 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. 121 



These differences are more strongly marked in males than in females, 

 but the trend is parallel in the two sexes. The distinctive genitalic 

 characters in both the male and female, however, are constant through- 

 out the range of the species. 



Two females from Europe have been dissected and examined. No 

 observable differences are noted between these specimens and Ameri- 

 can ones and, externally, they are similar to the eastern forms de- 

 scribed above. The female internal genitalia is precisely as the 

 American specimens. The bursa bears a dense patch of spines cen- 

 trally and a smaller, separated patch distally. The accessory gland 

 is enlarged, clublike apically and the spermathecal duct branches as 

 shown in the illustration. 



Specunens examined: 1 9, Skane, Sweden, "Stromberg Det."; 

 I.N.H.S. 1 9, Germany (?), Andreas Bolter Collection; I.N.H.S. 



Melanotus rufipes (Herbst) is a European species closely related to 

 castanipes, and the synonymizmg of the two species as proposed long 

 ago by Schwartz (1892) woidd seem warranted; however, w^e accept 

 the decision of recent students of the European fauna who regard the 

 two species as distinct (Binaghi, 1939; Jeuniaux, 1955). 



5. Melanotus communis (Gyllenhal) 



Figures 4j, 9a,b; Plate Id 



Slater communis Gyllenhal, 1817, p. 138. — Say, 1839, p. 184, 



Perimecus communis. — Kirby, 1837, p. 148. 



Cratonychus communis. — Erichson, 1842, p. 102. — LeConte, 1853, p. 477. 



Melanotus communis. — Emmons, 1854, p. 88. — Candfeze, 1860, p. 353. — Comstock 

 and Slingerland, 1891, p. 262.— Blatchley, 1910, p. 750.— Hyslop, 1916, p. 

 5.— van Zwaluwenburg, 1922, p. 12.— Fenton, 1926, p. 502.— Thomas, 1941, 

 p. 259.— Dietrich, 1945, p. 57.— Jewett, 1946, p. 10.— Fattig, 1951, p. 20. 



Melanotus paganus Candfeze, 1860, p. 359. 



Male. — ^Body color reddish brown, covered with white or yellow 

 vestiture evenly distributed over body, specimens in Southwest 

 often darker. 



Head: Front coarsely punctate, punctures rounded hexagonal, 

 separated by distance equal to less than own diameter, sm'face with 

 transverse depression anteriorly, sometimes very weak or reduced to 

 pan- of shallow, anterolateral depressions, maigin black or dark 

 reddish bro^^^l, not strongly protuberant above clypeus; clypeus 

 lightly punctate, parantennal fovea shallow, comma shaped, width 

 of interfoveal area 1^-2 times height. Mandible without pit; palpi 

 yellowish brown. Antenna 1 or 2 segments longer than pronotum, 

 reddish bro\Mi, usually outer angles of flagellar segments testaceous 

 and usually with median, dark brown, longitudinal streak on each 

 side of flagellar segments; ratio of segments 2 :3 :4=4 :7 :9, segment 4 



