4 H. C. FALL. 



for which for brevity, I have used the term alutaceous through- 

 out the descriptions. The pronotum is frequently similarly 

 sculptured though usually less distinctly so. In a few species 

 (vilbsa, puberula, cephalotes, bidentata) the upper surface is 

 polished throughout, while in a larger number (brevisetosa, 

 levicoxa, dentella, frontalis, excavata, brevidens, acerba, pubipes, 

 basalis, errans) the fine sculpture is very feeble or barely de- 

 tectable with a one-fourth-inch triplet. The elytra are always 

 punctate-striate in nine rows, of which the second and third 

 and also the fourth and fifth — counting from the suture — are 

 paired, owing to the greater width of intervals 2-4—6, and 

 have often been referred to as the geminate striae. The third 

 and fifth intervals — those included between the geminate 

 striae — are frequently a little more convex, and constitute the 

 so called discal costae. For the sake of uniformity this term 

 has been used in descriptions of all species, though in many 

 these intervals are not in the least costiform. The broader 

 intervals 2-4-6 have been called the first, second, and third 

 intercostal spaces. Of these, the first is always the widest, 

 and is invariably confusedly punctate; the second and third 

 are less wide, and usually with the punctuation more or less 

 irregular, often almost as conspicuously so as in the first 

 (tristis, liberta, harperi, frondicola, truncatella, thoracica and 

 many others) ; in rare instances (notably in dentipes, subangu- 

 lata, trementina and tenuis) the punctures of the second and 

 third intercostal spaces are disposed in a single nearly regular 

 row on each, though there is some individual variation in this 

 respect. The narrow intervals, 1-3-5-7-8-9, have with rare 

 exceptions (sordida, schaefferi) each a single series of fine 

 punctures, except the sutural, on which the series is usually 

 less regular. In a few species the punctures of the narrower 

 intervals are nearly as coarse as those of the striae and of the 

 broader intervals. In levicosta and atratula the narrow in- 

 tervals are almost devoid of punctures, and in several others 

 they are few and widely spaced. A somewhat trifling charac- 

 ter, but one which is very persistent throughout the genus, 

 exists in a more or less obvious impression along the seventh 

 stria at or before the middle. No reference has been made to 

 this in the descriptions, but as an illustration of variation in 



