Dec -'"'"'- 1 Shaeffer: Notes on Ciirysomki.hu. 309 



The vaginal plates of the females of the species of the suhgenus 

 Plateumaris are easily seen and generally protruded and are different 

 from the species of the other two subgenera as far as I was able to 

 see them without dissection. The lower plate is much longer than the 

 upper and more or less obliquely narrowing to apex into a sharp point, 

 the sides rather sharp or finely and sometimes coarsely serrate which 

 would indicate that it is used as an ovipositor or rather a tool to make 

 slits in stems of plants in which the eggs are deposited; also a different 

 way of oviposition than those of the other species of Donacia which 

 have the plates similar to those of the females of the subgenus Pceci- 

 locera, described in the table. If the vaginal plates are similar in 

 structure in all the species of the subgenus Donacia it would perhaps 

 be justified to give Plateumaris generic standing as is done in Europe. 

 However, in a female of pubicollis the apex of lower plate protrudes 

 very faintly but seems to be sharply pointed. 2 



Donacia proxima Kirhy. 

 var. episcopalis Lac. 

 var. calif omica Lee. 



Donacia proxima should perhaps be listed as more than a var. of 

 cincticornis, though it is more closely related to the latter than to any 

 other species. D. cincticornis has always much longer femora than 

 proxima, which in the male reach beyond the apex of the elytra, while 

 in proxima they extend only to the apex of the fourth ventral seg- 

 ment ; in the female of cincticornis the posterior femora extend to the 

 apex of the fourth ventral segment, in proxima to the third, the pro- 

 thorax is more transverse and the outer apical angle of elytra is gen- 

 erally broadly rounded in proxima. 



I have a few specimens from X. Y., X. J. and Pa. which agree 

 closely with Lecordaire's description of D. episcopalis. It is placed 

 as a synonym of proxima but while closely related it seems entitled 

 to be recognized as a var. of proxima. It is always smaller, the pro- 



- While this paper was in the hands of the printer, Mr. Schwarz in a letter 

 called my attention to his paper on the ovipositor of the females of the sub- 

 genus Plateumaris published in Proc. Ent. Soc. Wash. vol. Ill, p. 24, where 

 figures are given of the ovipositor of three different species. Fig. a, is what 

 I described further on as D. serricanda and the form of ovipositor is unique 

 as well as that of D. rufa (fig. b), the rest of the species have an ovipositor 

 similar to D. emarginata (fig. c). 



