SOME NEW SPECIES OF LACHNOSTERNA. 
By Joun B. Smit. 
For more than a year I have been, during odd moments, studying 
the species of Lachnosterna, more especially with the aim of bringing out 
prominently the remarkable sexual characters of the species—characters 
which shed so strong a light on specific relationships that their study can 
not be much longer neglected. Not the male only, but the female as 
well, show excellent and sharply defined characters which place species 
upon a much more solid foundation than heretofore possible by a study 
of external structure merely—structures which are all more or less vari- 
able, and which allow too much latitude to individual opinion. The 
sexual characters within my experience are absolutely invariable—there 
is no ‘‘more” or ‘‘less,” but they are practically identical, and equally 
constant in both sexes. Where any difference appears, it is indicative of 
a distinct species, though on the other hand I am not prepared to say 
that identity of sexual structure in all cases indicates identity of species. 
It would do so in Lachnosterna, in my opinion, These studies on the 
sexual characters of Lachnosterna are now completed, and I have figured 
87 of the species in 265 figures The paper is ready for the printer, and 
will appear in due course in the Proceedings of the United States Nat’l 
Museum. As there is usually considerable delay in the printing of these 
Proceedings, I prefer to describe the new species now, to call attention 
to them during the present season. In ‘‘Insect Life,” No. 6, I have 
already described four species, usually combined under the term /usca, 
another of these forms has come into my hands, equally deserving spe- 
cific recognition. 
L. insperata, sp. nov. 
Agrees very completely with Dr. Horn’s description of fusca, and 
superficially no obvious differences are apparent. The ventral characters 
of the male resemble those of dubia and arcuaéa, the ridge being strongly 
arched and small, but situated back from the posterior margin of the 
penultimate segment and not overhanging the last. In the female I 
have found no distinctive characters. Six specimens, taken under 
stones early in Spring by Mr. M. L. Linell, at Snake Hill, N. J., are 
before me—4 of them males, 2 females. The specimens are dark in 
color, and large and stout, resembling most nearly the larger form of 
fusca, which occurs with it. The male is readily recognizable, and I 
picked out the species immediately from a mixture of other specimens. 
The sexual structures bear out perfectly the position assigned, which is 
between arcuata Smith, and dudza Smith. 
