Dec, I9I2.] Fall: North American Collops. 263 



in examples from Florida. These constitute the variety floridanus of 

 Schaeffer ; they are however connected with the type form by inter- 

 mediates. It seems to have escaped notice hitherto that the form of 

 the 3d antennal joint in the d" separates this species at once and 

 decisively from all others. The female antennas are of normal form 

 and examples of this sex of floridanus may be confused with tricolor. 

 The identification by LeConte of certain specimens of pnnctatus 

 taken in New Mexico by Snow and in Colorado by Hubbard and 

 Schwarz, as eximius, was hasty and unfortunate, the error persisting 

 in faunal lists down to the present time. My own observations lead 

 me to the conclusion that there is no possible way of separating 

 eximiiis Er. from nigriceps Say. Erichson remarks under his descrip- 

 tion of eximius that it is very close to nigriceps, differing in its 

 shorter form, color of the abdomen and legs, and shorter hair. He 

 describes the abdomen as rufous with the last segment fuscous, while 

 of nigriceps he says : " abdomen testaceous with two series of black 

 spots." Horn says of eximius in his review " abdomen and front 

 legs rufous " and of nigriceps " abdomen and legs black." In this 

 statement he is evidently influenced by Erichson; it is however quite 

 unwarranted, for Say says in his description of nigriceps — " venter 

 sanguineous, feet black, thighs sometimes rufous, particularly the 

 anterior ones," which is almost precisely what Erichson writes of 

 eximius. As a matter of fact the color of the abdomen varies from 

 almost entirely rufous to heavily maculate with black, through all 

 intermediate forms, while the legs may be entirely black, or with the 

 thighs in part rufous as stated by Say. These variations are inter- 

 current and are not confined to any geographical region. The pecu- 

 liar form of the male antennae is the same in all. 



C. bipunctatus Say. Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., Ill, 1823, p. 185. 



This is a fine large species and so well known as to need little comment. 

 It is at once recognized by its size, combined with the entirely blue or greenish 

 elytra, and rufous prothorax with two small rounded or oval black spots. As 

 indicated by Horn, the color of the legs may be either entirely black or the 

 femora may be in part red ; the venter also may be nearly entirely reddish or 

 distinctly maculate with black. The basal joint of the (^ antenna as viewed 

 from the front is oblong with the upper edge arcuately emarginate throughout, 

 the upper basal angle prominent; the posterior face is excavate. The second 

 joint, viewed from beneath, is longer than wide, the appendix long. 



