316 Journal New York Entomological Society. t Vo1 - xxvu. 



femora rather feebly clavate and longer, reaching to or slightly be- 

 yond the apex of the fourth ventral, in liebecki to about the third 

 ventral segment. 



Donacia distincta Lee. 



I can not convince myself that the specimens under that name in 

 every collection I have seen are the true distincta, including the 

 specimen sent me by Mr. Frost and compared by him with the type, 

 a so-called homotype. They do not agree with Leconte's group 

 characters. Leconte places distincta and hirticollis in a separate group 

 defined as follows : " Crassiusculse, elytris apicem versus magis angu- 

 statis, thorace punctato tuberculatoque, elytris valde rugosis, antennis 

 minus elongatis, articulo tertio secundo paulo breviore." Taking 

 hirticollis as guide, the shorter, more robust form, the elytra more 

 strongly narrowing towards apex and the shorter antennae are evi- 

 dently the principal characters of the group, but which scarcely could 

 be applied to these so-called distincta. Leconte under his description 

 of distincta' also says "habitus fere D. proximo" but the two are cer- 

 tainly widely different in form. The type specimen of distincta came 

 from Lake Superior and ought to be still in Leconte's collection. 



Mr. Leng was correct when he stated that he was unable to sepa- 

 rate torosa Lee. from these so-called distincta. The color varies in 

 these and the sculpture of the prothorax is much more variable than 

 in any other species of the subgenus Donacia. I have seen over fifty 

 specimens of this from various localities ranging from Massachusetts 

 to Florida. The prothorax may be more or less densely punctate with 

 rather coarse punctures which are sometimes more or less transversely 

 confluent, especially laterally or very finely and sparsely punctate with 

 more or less distinct and very finely impressed wavy lines. The two 

 extremes look certainly distinct from each other but intermediate 

 forms are there which prohibit the establishment of even a variety. 

 The color of the antennse, the relative length of the joints, especially 

 the second and third, and the distinctness of the frontal tubercles is 

 also variable. I have a specimen which is black above with antennal 

 joints red except the first, which is metallic. As already stated else- 

 where the sinuation of the sutural margin of the elytra near apex, 

 mentioned by Mr. Leng in his revision, I am unable to see in any of 

 the specimens examined. 



