and Central American Telephorinae. 105 



the basal joints of the antennae beneath, the margins of the pro- 

 thorax, and the outer limb of the elytra flavescent or whitish, the 

 rest of the pro thorax rufous or rufo -testaceous, often with a complete 

 or abbreviated black median vitta. Head transversely depressed 

 or flattened between the eyes, the latter small in both sexes ; antennae 

 not very stout, extending to beyond the middle of the elytra in (^, 

 shorter in $. Prothorax ((J) transverse, as wide as or wider than the 

 elytra, narrow at the base, deeply excavate and often sulcate on 

 the disc, the lateral lobes broad- — the anterior one curved backward 

 and ciliate, the posterior one oblique, truncate at the apex, pointed 

 at the outer angle, and armed on its anterior edge near the base 

 with a slender erect, dentiform process, which is obliquely truncate 

 or bidentate at the tip ; ($) simply notched on each side before the 

 hind angles, the dorsal excavation shallower and often divided into 

 two. Elytra subparallel, finely sculptured. 



Length (excl. head) 4^5J, breadth 1^2rV J^im. (J $.) 



Hab. Mexico {Mus. Brit., Mus. Oxon.), Orizaba, Cor- 

 dova, Atoyac, Jalapa, Teapa, Capulalpam, Tehuantepec ; 

 ? Honduras; Guatemala, Purula and Chiacam in Alta 

 Vera Paz; Nicaragua, Chontales. 



Gorham separated the Chontales and some other speci- 

 mens from S. dilacerata as a variety on account of their 

 wholly red prothorax (a character of no value) ; but he 

 did not notice the slender erect dentiform process on the 

 anterior margin of the posterior lateral lobe of the pro- 

 thorax of the numerous males before him, which is perfectly 

 constant in the large number of specimens of this sex from 

 Teapa and other places examined by me. S. acantholobus, 

 too, is a more elongate insect than S. dilacerata, the elytra 

 are more shining and have a more definite whitish lateral 

 margin, and the antennae of the male are longer and not 

 so stout. The Jalapa female mentioned by Gorham under 

 S. ludicra (loc. cit. p. 302) belongs here. 



8. Silis biauriculata, n. sp. (Plate VIII, fig. 71, 

 prothorax, ^.) 



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

 p. 96 (part.). 



(J. Moderately elongate, narrow, shining, somewhat thickly 

 pubescent; nigro-piceous, the anterior portion of the head, the 

 prothorax and scutellum, the sutural and outer margins of the 

 elytra narrowly, and the extreme base of the tibiae, testaceous or 



