STUDIES IN THE AMERICAN BUPRESTID.E l6l 



ually declivous posteriorly to the smaller transverse ante-scutellar 

 cavity, the surface laterally strongly punctured and very uneven, with 

 the outer smooth vitta^ broadly interrupted by the usual large post- 

 medial impressions; elytra but slightly wider than the prothorax, 

 longer than in bifoveata, twice as long as wide, the sides similarly rap- 

 idly oblique in posterior third, becoming evidently sinuate near the 

 broader and arcuato-truncate apices; general surface much more 

 coarsely and unevenly punctato-rugose, the striae rather impressed, 

 visible throughout, coarsely punctured suturally, the elevations nearly 

 similar, more coalescently diffused suturally, except behind the middle, 

 the series on the sublateral interval posteriorly more than usually prom- 

 inent and cariniform; under surface ($) coarsely rugose, the pro- 

 sternum broad, coarsely and rugosely sculptured, almost flat, with 

 bluish-green lustre ; metasternum deeply concave anteriorly ; fifth ventral 

 rather obtuse, the notches parallel-sided but unusually rounded, the 

 ligula rounded at apex, parallel, the surface with more or less longitud- 

 inal rugosity and distinct indications of the usual two approximate 

 medial ridges of preceding groups. Length 16.0 mm.; width 5.9 mm. 

 Colorado stolida n. sp. 



The synonymy in this group is almost hopelessly involved, owing 

 to the brief and inadequate descriptions of the early authors, with 

 wrongly quoted localities in several instances, leading thus to erro- 

 neous identifications on the part of LeConte and other subsequent 

 writers. The trouble is accentuated by reason of the apparent rarity 

 of many of the Atlantic coast species, so that my conclusions, as ex- 

 pressed above, were of necessity obtained by correlating information 

 derived from a survey of the literature, with the assignments suggested 

 in the Kerremans Catalogue and from a few of the published remarks 

 of LeConte and Crotch. The species dumolini, distinguenda and 

 tuhercidata, of the table, are all unknown to me in nature and, in 

 addition, much uncertainty has arisen from what appears to be an 

 erroneous interpretation of tenebrosa by the authors just mentioned, 

 who overlooked the facts, stated in the original description, that it is 

 black and has a broad thoracic sulcus, the latter being a very impor- 

 tant character in the present group and quite underestimated hitherto; 

 but, at the same time, the head is said to be as in divaricata, that is, 

 perhaps, without a transverse callous band; so we cannot make very 

 positive statements concerning its identity. The name, as applied 

 by those writers, refers to chrysea Mels., its subspecies and related 

 species, forming the second section of the group, one of which was 

 described by LeConte, under the name bifoveata; to this "olla-po- 

 drida" Crotch added what I hold to be the very dissimilar crassicollis, 



