WINTER INSECTS OF EASTERN NEW YORK. 237 



the chaflf-scale or glume of a small kernel of grain ; the apex is armed with 

 a straight thorn-like spine which is directed backwards and downwards; 

 the inner margin is studded with a row of small teeth, which are longer 

 and more distinct toward the apex of the pseud-el3rtron ; these teeth are 

 inclined backwards, and at their points they are strongly curved in the 

 same direction ; both the outer and inner margins are minutely ciliated 

 with short hairs. The under wings are represented on each side by a 

 curved bristle which lies under the pseud-elytron and within its concav- 

 it}^; it scarcely exceeds the pseud-elytron in length, is slightly dilated at its 

 base, curves inwards and downwards, is almost hooked at its tip, and gives 

 off an occasional short hair. In /he female the wings are entirely wanting, 

 the only vestiges of them being two minute scales occupying the place 

 of the upper pair ; these scales are circular and scarcely the hundredth 

 part of an inch in diameter in B. ntvoriundus, slightly elongated and a 

 third smaller in B. brwnalis ; they are convex above and concave beneath, 

 and attached to the thorax bj^ a short broad pedicel ; their edges are cili- 

 ated with minute hairs : their upper surface is also thickly set with very 

 short, erect hairs, and is crossed by an elevated rib or slight keel. Legs 

 long, particularly the posterior pair, the length of which exceeds that of 

 the body ; their several joints cylindric and densely clothed with short 

 minute hairs ; the first tarsal joint half as long as the tibia, the four re- 

 maining joints successively shorter, terminated by two small, slender, 

 simple hooks. Abdomen oval, depressed when exsiccated, the segments 

 distinctly marked by strongly impressed transverse lines, and clothed 

 with fine appressed hairs; in the males it is nearly cylindrical, but little 

 broader than the head, truncated as it were at its apex and turned up- 

 wards ; tip of the last segment furnished with two stout sharp-pointed 

 hooks, each with an acute tooth in the middle of its inner edge, and pilose 

 along its outer edge ; these hooks are susceptible of being extended in 

 a line with the body, but are commonl)'- strongly recurved upon the back 

 shutting down upon and grasping a small scutel-like process which pro- 

 jects upwards at the base of this segment. They are thus recurved in co- 

 ition, the male organ being exserted from between their bases. Ovipositor 

 robust, about half as long as the abdomen of the female, projecting back- 

 wards in a line with the body, composed of a three-jointed semicylindrical 

 piece above, and two ligulate valves below ; the latter have their lower 

 edges held in contact, thus forming a little gutter, and on the under-side 

 toward their tipc they are finely serrated ; of the upper piece, the middle 

 joint is much the longest, and is lined beneath on its concave side with a 

 membrane which becomes distended with fluid when the abdomen is 

 pressed upon; the short terminal joint is susceptible of being inclined 

 obliquely downwards, thus, at least partially, closing the end of the ovipos- 

 itor ; the upper and lower pieces are widely separated in coition to 

 enable the tip of the male abdomen to approximate that of the female. 



I. BoREUS NIVORIUNDUS. The Snow-bom Boreus. 

 Shining black or brownish-black ; rudimentary wings, thorax above, 



