1^2 CASEY 



Coniontellus Csy. 

 The small convex species constituting this genus have a 

 facies very similar to that of Cont'ontis, but, besides the com- 

 pletely divided eyes, they differ in their shorter legs and smaller 

 antennie. They are divisible into two clearly separated groups, 

 the first, having stiff hispid vestiture, being confined as far as 

 known to the eastern slopes of the central Sierras, all that I 

 have seen having been taken in the valley of the Truckee 

 River; the other group, smaller and glabrous or virtually so, 

 are very widely distributed, but, unlike Coniontis^ are entire 

 strangers to the fauna of the coast regions. The eight species 

 in my collection may be described as follows : — 



Elytra bristling, more especially toward the sides and tip, with stiff 



erect fulvous setae 3 



Elytra glabrous, or at most with very minute, decumbent and incon- 

 spicuous hairs 5 



2 — Integuments castaneous in color 3 



Integuments black ^- 



2 — Body oblong, convex, rather shining, coarsely sculptured ; head 

 strongly but not coarsely, loosely punctate, more finely and densely 

 so before the suture, the sinus deep, angulate, the lobes broadly 

 rounded ; prothorax more than four-fifths wider than long, the sides 

 broadly rounded and converging before the middle, becoming 

 parallel or nearly so and straighter thence to the base, the apex 

 strongly sinuate, fully two-thirds as wide as the base, the latter 

 transversely truncate, gradually curved posteriorly at the sides, the 

 apical angles deflexed, right and narrowly rounded, the basal but 

 slightly produced and blunt ; surface finely, sparsely punctured, 

 becoming coarsel}', closely so and with the punctures elongate 

 laterally, the bead fine ; scutellum moderate, not much wider than 

 long, triangular ; elytra less than one-half longer than wide, not 

 inflated apparently in either sex, the sides parallel and straight, 

 abruptly rounding in apical third to the obtuse tip ; surface almost 

 vertically declivous behind, slightly uneven, coarsely, very deeply, 

 evenly and closely punctate throughout ; prosternum and process 

 strongly and closely punctate, the latter margined at the sides but 

 not at the rounded apex ; abdomen rather finely, strongly, some- 

 what sparsely punctate. Length 7.2-7.7 mm. ; width 3.6-3.9 

 mm. Nevada (near Reno), — H. F. Wickham ....hystrix n. sp. 



Body oblong, more elongate, larger in size, shining, less strongly 

 sculptured ; head rather finely and closely, strongly and subevenly 

 punctured throughout, the sinus nearly similar, the lobes still more 

 broadly rounded, the sides more broadly rounded before the eyes; 

 prothorax twice as wide as the median length or nearly so, formed 



