FALL— A REVIEW OF XOTIOPHILUS 
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devoid of squamules. Mr. Blanchard has recently observed (in litt) that the 
palpi are more or less dilated in the males of certain of our species. An ex- 
amination shows that this is true of all our species, the dilation hein^ 
as a rule slij^ht, but in sonistriatus quite strongly marked, and sufficient to at 
once separate this species from all others in our fauna. 
Of the not very numerous characters useful in distinguishing our species, 
it may be well to briefly discuss two or three of the more important before 
using them in the following table. In all of the species the front is broadly 
longitudinally grooved at the sides, the intervening space being marked witli 
narrower grooves or striae which differ in number and fineness in such a fash- 
ic)u as to enal)le us to divide our species into three groups. The striae are not 
infrequently more or less irregular, so that the exact number is not always 
easy to determine, but with a very little experience there is rarely any difficulty 
in determining to which group a given specimen belongs. 
rhese three sections may be termed from the numlxm of frontal striae 
the 5-striatc, 7-striate, and 12-striate groups. ()f lliese the 5-strxite series is 
much the most numerous, containing eight of the eleven North American 
forms, including all that are found east of the Mississippi River, or for that 
matter east of the Rocky Mountains, if we except a form of nitciis occurring 
in Texas. To the second group belong nitens and obsi^inis, two closely allied 
species, which are intermediate between the first and third groups in other 
characters besides the number of frontai striae. To the 12-striate group be- 
longs only semiopacus. The striae here are very fine and seem to vary in 
number from eleven to thirteen. 
Another character which I have found to be remarkably constant is the 
number of annulate setigerous punctures (“foveae” 1 near the apex of the elytra. 
This character is an especially useful one, inasmuch as it permits of separat- 
ing at once and with certainty, forms which are without careful attention 
easily confused. In all the species there is a setigerous puncture near the apex 
and just within the deeply impressed apical portion of the seventh stria. In 
the greater number cf species there is also a second puncture immediately 
in front of this, and distant from it as a rule somewhat less than its distance 
from the suture, but in three species — semistriatus, aqiiaticiis and borealis — 
the apical puncture alone is present. The other characters used in the follow- 
ing table are sufficiently clear or will be made so in the remarks under the 
various species. 
In several instances our species are mutually very closely related, depend- 
