188 NORTH AMERICAN 



from the male with exception of the measurements of the tarsal joints, 

 •which were taken from the female. 



117. S. vestalis n. sp. — Slender and fusiform. Pubescence rather long, 

 coarse, moderately close, recumbent, and cinereous on the abdomen, exces- 

 sively short, sparse, fine, and almost invisible on the remainder of the upper 

 surface. Head small, twice as wide as long ; interocular surface moderately 

 depressed, scarcely twice as wide as the eye, coarsely, rather closely, and 

 very feebly punctate; equally trilobed by the very well-marked sulcations ; 

 intermediate surface strongly and evenly convex, prominent ; punctures in 

 tbe middle so feeble as to be almost invisible, surface shining; ocular lines 

 meeting at one-half a length in advance ; antennae scarcely as long as the 

 width of head, moderately robust, piceous-black, club distinct; joints three 

 to five uniformly and gradually decreasing in length, sixth and seventh 

 equal, eighth somewhat wider than long, joints ten and eleven much more 

 robust than the ninth ; maxillary palpi long, first joint testaceous, remainder 

 piceous-black, third densely setigerous. Prothorax small, widest at the 

 middle, where it is four-fifths as wide as the head, and distinctly narrower 

 than long ; sides thence very feebly convergent posteriorly and rather strongly 

 sinuate ; anterior and posterior margins equal in length, the former much 

 the mor.e arcuate ; surface slightly uneven, very confusedly and rather closely 

 punctate ; canaliculation long, broad, deeply impressed, and very prominent, 

 terminating at equal distances from the margins, three-fourths as long as the 

 pronotum. Elytra at base distinctly wider than the head; sides moderately 

 divergent posteriorly, very slightly longer than the width at base and strongly 

 arcuate; together roundly and rather strongly emarginate behind; suture 

 one-fourth as long again as the pronotum ; surface convex, feebly impressed 

 on the suture at base, coarsely, closely, and very irregularly sculptured; 

 punctures very seldom isolated, generally joined in coalescent channels. 

 Abdomen nearly cylindrical, segments decreasing slowly and uniformly in 

 width, first much narrower than the contiguous elytra; border very slight ; 

 surface very coarsely and closely punetulate ; transverse carinae tricuspid, 

 cusps rattier approximate, long and aciculate at tips, very prominent, inter- 

 vals strongly sinuate. Legs long and slender, black above, dark piceous- 

 brown beneath ; first joint of the posterior tarsi one-half as long again as the 

 second, much shorter than the fifth, joints two to four uniformly and very 

 gradually decreasing in length. 



Male. — Unknown. 



Female. — Sixth ventral segment rather narrow, very evenly rounded be- 

 hind. 



Length 2.4 mm. 



Kern County, California, 1. 



A very distinct species ; it seems to come naturally in a position 

 intermediate between the division with bordered abdomen and those 

 in which it is not margined, the border only being distinct at the 

 bases of the first two segments. 



