32 Annals Entomological Society of America [Vol. XII, 



have therefore been selected for representation in the accom- 

 panying plate. These sketches are not drawn to any given scale, 

 and are not to be regarded as absolutely accurate as regards 

 relative dimensions of parts, but they are sufficiently so for the 

 purpose they are designed to serve. A certain degree of 

 variation has indeed been observed in these dimensions in one 

 or two species, quite independent of any extension or contraction 

 of the parts, which though sometimes noticeable, is less common 

 than one would expect. 



In Le Conte's latest treatment of the Lampyridse* there is 

 •given a table of our species of Malthodes, of which three — 

 laticollis, fragilis and fusculus — are accredited to California. 

 The type of fragilis is from the Atlantic Coast region, and an 

 examination of the Le Conte specimens some years ago con- 

 vinced me that the Californian form so referred was not the 

 same. This latter did not appear to be identical with any of 

 the new species herein described. This leaves only two Le- 

 Contean species described from the state, one of ^hich, fusculus, 

 I do not recognize in the material at hand. To these two species 

 must be added the M. ligulifer described by Bergrothf from 

 Monterey, California, and said to be related by its male sexual 

 characters to spado Lee. The prothorax of ligulifer is said to be 

 " nigro-piceus, anguste luteo-circumlimbatus, " which does not 

 apply normally to any Californian species known to me, and is 

 only approached by some forms of basalis, near which it may 

 be listed for the present; the terminal ventral segments of the 

 male are, however, not defined with sufficient exactness to 

 enable me to include it in the following table. 



* Trans. Am. Ent. Soc. 1881, p. 60. 



t Ann. Soc. Ent. France (Bull. Ent. CCIII) 1889. 



