June i 9 oo.] Casey: On North American Coleoptera. 163 



Trinodini. 

 This tribe includes at present but two very anomalous minute 

 species, differing radically in sternal structure but perfectly homo- 

 logous otherwise, and inhabiting the palajarctic and nearctic regions 

 respectively. They represent two distinct genera as follows : — 



Anterior coxje narrowly separated, the process feebly carinate, free and received at 

 tip within a deep anterior excavation in the broad mesosternum ; tarsi shorter, 

 the first joint of the posterior but little longer than the second. Europe 



*Trinodes 



Anterior coxae more widely separated, the interco<al process flat, non-carinate and ex- 

 tending beneath the anterior margin of the still broader mesosternum, which is 

 free, arcuate and feebly deflexed ; presternum more deflexed at apex, the tarsi 

 longer with the basal joint more elongate. Eastern America Apsectus 



In both these genera the hypomera are flat, becoming broadly, 

 feebly impressed posteriorly, the antennae long, with very slender 

 shaft, received in repose within a narrow groove beneath the eyes, ex- 

 tending posteriorly for a short distance along the suture separating 

 the presternum from its hypomera, the club 3-jointed, with the two 

 basal joints small, the third large and oblong-oval. The legs are slender 

 and free, the posterior retractile, the hind coxal plate very short, but 

 little longer internally and extending only to the wide parapleural, 

 which are in a single piece. 



Apsectus Lee. 



The single species seems to be rare, though rather widely dis- 

 tributed ; its general characters are as follows : — - 



Oval, convex, piceous-black, polished, sparsely clothed with long erect and bristling 

 fulvo-piceous hairs, each of which completely fills at base a very minute punc- 

 tule, which, consequently, only become distinctly visible on the removal of the 

 bristles ; prothorax transverse, closely fitted to the elytra and lobed as usual at 

 base, the lateral edges entirely devoid of acute margin anteriorly but with an 

 acute and narrowly reflexed margin in basal two-thirds, the surface with a fine 

 deep groove in outer third, closely paralleling the basal margin ; scutellum 

 large, flat, equilatero-triangular ; elytra wider than the prothorax and more than 

 three times as long, evenly and conjointly rounded behind ; under surface 

 sparsely and very minutely punctulate, the pubescence shorter ; legs and antennae 

 testaceous throughout, the large terminal joint of the latter blackish. Length 

 1.5 mm.; width 0.9 mm. Texas (Austin) hispidus Mclsh. 



The ocellus is unusually small and feeble in Apsectus but is much 

 more distinct in Trinodes. I have seen specimens, either of hispidus 

 or a species closely allied, collected by Mr. Schwarz in Arizona, but 

 probably in the higher regions. 



