A STUDY OF THE GENUS MONOXIA — ^BLAKE 153 



obliquely toward the apex. The punctation is rather coarse and 

 dense, becoming finer toward the apex, and the pale pubescence is 

 moderately long, recumbent, not dense, and not obscuring the puncta- 

 tion. Beneath, the body is dark except the last two or three ab- 

 dominal segments, and the legs are speckled. 



Compared with the other species described by LeConte, consputa 

 stands out as being next in size to the tiny sordida, that is, one-third 

 smaller than angularis and considerably smaller than guttulaia or 

 debilis. M. consputa, besides being smaller than angularis, has a 

 differently shaped prothorax, the basal angles of which are not con- 

 spicuous, shallower elytral punctation, and a quite differently shaped 

 aedeagus. Compared with guttulata, it is not only less elongate and 

 smaller, but the pubescence is shorter and less conspicuous and more 

 closely appressed. Unlike debilis, the elytra are not convex but have 

 pronounced depressions. Among the medium-sized species it is dis- 

 tinctive because of the coarse elytral punctation. The majority of 

 the specimens examined are darkly marked, with the head speckled, 

 the prothorax with an M -shaped configuration, and the elytra with a 

 darkened sutural vitta. 



Specimens of this species from about San Francisco (Mount Tamal- 

 pais and Monterey) correspond entirely with LeConte's types. On 

 the other hand, there are many specimens from other locahties through- 

 out the Western States and in Texas that closely resemble M. consputa 

 but have sHght differences. In all the aedeagi are very similar. 

 Whether these are varieties of a single species or are specifically 

 distinct is not clear. As in some other species, notably in M. sordida, 

 the status of these closely related forms cannot at present be satis- 

 factorily worked out. Possibly as a species M. consputa is not yet 

 fixed but still in the process of evolution. A series of specimens from 

 Beaver Creek, Utah, is slenderer and has shorter pubescence. Another 

 series that I collected in numbers on Chrysothamnus nauseosus in 

 Yellowstone Park, Wyo., is shghtly larger, with a httle coarser elytral 

 punctation and with inconspicuous pubescence. A single specimen 

 from Williams, Ariz., similar to typical specimens in elytral punctation 

 and depressions, is more pubescent. A series from Ritzville and 

 Toppenish, Wash., is more pubescent and darker in coloring. 



MONOXIA GUTTULATA (LeConte) 



Plate 19, Figure 13 



Galleruca guttulata LeConte, Reports of explorations and surveys for a railroad 



route from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, vol. 9, No. 1, p. 70, 



1857. 

 Monoxia guttulata LeConte, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, vol. 17, p. 222, 



1865. 

 Monoxia consputa Horn, Trans. Amer. Ent. Soc, vol. 20, p. 85, 1893 (in part; 



not LeConte, 1865). 



149574—39 2 



