and Central American Telephorinae. 61 



posteriorly ; the elytra smoother at the base, granulate 

 towards the apex. 



56. Discodon varians. (Plate VIII, fig. 57, prothorax, (^.) 



Silis varians, Gorh., Biol. Centr.-Am., Coleopt. iii, 2, 

 pp. 92, 291 (part.) (excl. fig.). 



(J. Eyes rather small; antennae moderately long, joints 3-11 

 dilated, serrate, and canaliculate, rapidly tapering outwards ; 

 prothorax transverse, subcampanulate, obliquely compressed on 

 each side of the disc anteriorly, the margins narrowly reflexed and 

 obliquely notched just in front of the prominent hind angles ; elytra 

 about as broad at the base as the prothorax, more or less widened 

 posteriorly; inner claw of anterior tarsi with a broad angular 

 lobe at the base, the outer claw of the other tarsi cleft at tip. 



$. Eyes less prominent ; mandibles curved ; antennae with 

 joints 3-8 very broadly dilated, subserrate, 9-11 rapidly narrowing; 

 prothorax broader, arcuately narrowing anteriorly, the sides with 

 a longer and shallower notch in front of the hind angles. 



(J. Ninth ventral segment elongate, produced in the middle at 

 the tip, two pa,irs of stout hooks projecting from the internal sac. 

 (Fig. 21.) 



Hab. Mexico, Cordova [$], Jalapa [$], Teapa [$], 

 Juquila [var. (^] ; Guatemala, San Joaquin in Alta Vera 

 Paz [type, ^], Duenas [(^ $], San Isidro [(^]. 



Gorham originally included, as he himself states (loc. 

 cit. p. 291), several species under his Silis varians (mainly 

 owing to the absence of males of some of the forms) ; but 

 in his " Supplement " he fixes as type a male from San 

 Joaquin, and says that the true S. variayis has shorter 

 antennae than S. serrigera, and (on p. 92) he notes that 

 the prothorax is minutely notched immediately before 

 the hind angles in both sexes. These characters bring 

 D. (Silis) varians very near D. serrigerum, from which it 

 may be separated by its relatively shorter prothorax, the 

 shorter antennae and the more broadly lobed inner anterior 

 tarsal claw of the male. The ten examples before me 

 vary in the development of the ochreous basal portion of 

 the elytra, this being reduced to a humeral spot in the 

 var. from Juquila and in one specimen from Zapote. The 

 examples from the other localities quoted by Gorham 

 belong to different species. 



