104 H. C. FALL. 



short and stout, there is a progressive change to the parallel form of 

 body in both sexes, wide ventral surface, large eyes, strongly con- 

 stricted prothorax and longer, more slender legs of many species of 



Ptinus. 



SPH.ERICUS Wollaston. 



Men turn elongate-triangular ; labrum subtruncate in front; eves 

 small. Antennae scarcely more than half as long as the body, 

 inserted between the eyes, from which they are as distant as from 

 each other; joints 1-9 gradually decreasing in size, the intermediate 

 ones submoniliform ; last joint wider, oval, and as long as the ninth 

 and tenth united. Prothorax not constricted at base. Scutellum 

 invisible. Elytra globose, not punctured in rows. Anterior coxae 

 moderately separated, the intercoxal process not reaching the sum- 

 mits of the coxa? ; middle coxa? slightly more distant than their own 

 diameters; hind coxa? small, very widely separated, contiguous with 

 side margin of elytra. Metasternum very short, scarcely equal in 

 length to the second ventral segment. Ventral surface rather more 

 than half as wide as the elytra; first segment short, second and 

 third equal and a little longer, fourth scarcely half as long as the 

 third, fifth subequal to the third and fourth united. Legs rather short 

 and stout; tarsi short, joints 1-4 decreasing as usual, last joint nar- 

 rower and as long as the two preceding together; claws divaricate. 



S. gibboitles Boield. — Stout, brown, opaque; densely clothed above with 

 appressed scales varying in color from yellowish to pale brown, and with sparse 

 intermixed scale-like hairs which are also closely recumbent and very inconspic- 

 uous. In most examples the scales are paler in a fairly well defined posterior 

 elytra] fascia, and narrowly along the median line of the prothorax. Prothorax 

 as wide as long, base and apex subequal, sides feebly arcuate, widest at middle, 

 disk without grooves or callosities, closely coarsely punctate, the sculpture con- 

 cealed by the scales. Elytra globose-oval, surface dull, not distinctly punctate. 

 Beneath finely sparsely pubescent; metasternum closely very coarsely punctate; 

 ventral segments less coarsely punctured, the punctures becoming finer poste- 

 riorly. Length 1.8-2 2 mm. 



This species, which is somewhat widely dispersed in the Mediter- 

 ranean region of Europe and northern Africa, has been found in this 

 country only at San Francisco, California, where it has made itself 

 obnoxiously conspicuous as an herbarium pest in the California 

 Academy of Sciences. Mr. Fuchs also writes me of finding a 

 quantity of them in a can of red pepper — " more beetles than pep- 

 per." He also states that they on one occasion devoured a box full 

 of Coleoptera which had not been looked to for a considerable time. 

 The beetles are to be found at all seasons of the year. 



