ART. 9 WEST INDIAN BUPKESTIDAE FISHER 19 



POLYCESTA PORCATA (Fabricius) 



Bupi-estis porcata Fabricius, Syst. Ent., 1775, p. 219. 



Folyccsta porcata Mannerheim, Bull. Soc. Imp. Nat. Moscou, vol. 10, 

 DO. 8, 1837, p. 36. — Chevrolat, Silbermann's Revue Ent., vol. 5, 1838, 

 p. 56. — Watebhouse, Ann, and Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 7, vol. 14, 1904, p. 

 254. — Kekremans, Mon. Bupr., vol. 1, 1906, pp. 516-518. 



Male. — Broadly elongate, averaging about two and one-fifth times 

 as long as wide; broadly rounded in front, more narrowly rounded 

 behind, and feebly convex above; color above aeneo-nigris, with a 

 strong greenish and purplish tinge; beneath of the same color but 

 more shining than above. 



Head flat without any depressions on the front, but with a short 

 obsolete longitudinal carina on the occiput; surface coarsely, deeply 

 and densely punctate, the punctures variable in size, irregularly 

 placed, and separated from each other by less than their diameter, 

 clothed with a few very fine erect hairs, the intervals irregular in 

 shape, convex, smooth and shining on the top ; epistoma feebly arcu- 

 ately emarginate in front. Pronotum strongly transverse, two times 

 as wide as long, distinctly narrower in front than behind, and widest 

 at basal third; sides strongly obliquely expanded from the apical 

 angles to basal third, where they are obtusely angulated, then 

 strongly narrowed to near the posterior angles, which are nearly 

 rectangular; anterior margin deeply arcuately emarginate, with a 

 broadly rounded median lobe, and the margin smooth and narrowly 

 elevated ; base bisinuate, with the median lobe rather strongly angu- 

 lated; disk with a broad shallow median depression ; surface coarsely, 

 deeply, and densely punctate, the punctures more or less confluent in 

 the median depression and toward the antero-lateral areas, glabrous, 

 the intervals densely granulose and subopaque. Scutellum small, 

 suboval, slightly wider behind than in front, and strongly convex. 

 Elytra feebly convex, about as wide as the pronotum at base ; humeral 

 angles obtusely angulated ; sides feebly expanded behind the humeral 

 angle, slightly sinuate at the posterior coxae, nearly parallel to apical 

 third, then arcuately attenuate to the tips, which are rather acute, 

 the lateral margins coarsel}'' and irregularly serrate posteriorly ; each 

 elytron with four feebly elevated smooth longitudinal costae, not 

 including the scutellar one, which is very short and not extending 

 to the base, the costae irregular, sinuate and usually only the two 

 discal ones distinctly marked on the basal regions, becoming more 

 obsolete toward the apex, there are also nine or ten longitudinal rows 

 of large deep elliptical punctures, which are arranged in double 

 rows between the costae, the punctures more or less confluent, very 

 variable in shape and size, and forming a network of alveolus areas, 

 the sutural and lateral margins coarsely and densely punctate; 



