254 JOHN L. LE CONTE, M. D. 



Paromalus affinis Lee. — Usually larger than cequalis, and more narrowed be- 

 hind; easily distinguished by the pygidiura, which is larger and more convex, 

 sculptured only with fine reticulated aciculate lines; these are especially obvi- 

 ous in the male, but in the female are less marked, and sometimes entirely 

 wanting. In both sexes of cequalis the pygidium is alike, and covered with 

 coarse tubercles and deep rugosities. 



Plegaderus Erichsonii Lee, List of Col. N. Am. (Smiths. Inst.) p. 28.=P. pu- 

 sillus J Lcc. Bost. Jour. Nat. Hist. — Less than i line long. Pale or dark pioe- 

 ous, with ferruginous antennae, and reddish-brown legs. Head and prothorax 

 finely punctured, the latter with a deep lateral impressed line, and convex ele- 

 vated margin, disc without transverse groove, but in place of it, in certain 

 lights, a very faint transverse impression may be observed; elytra distinctly 

 punctured, and with very fine and short hairs. Abundant in Carolina, in Nov- 

 ember under pine bark. 



The species of Plegarlerus may be divided into three groups : 



a. Disc of prothorax with a deep transverse groove, and the jirosternum with 

 a patch of hair. — (Most of the species, including transversus.) 



b. Disc of prothorax without transverse groove, but presternum with a patch 

 of hair. — {Erichsonii.) 



c. Disc of prothorax without transverse groove, and prosternum without 

 patch of hair. — (pusillus of Europe.) 



Aulonium ferrugineum. ■•■■ — Length IJ line. Ferruginous, more slender than 

 parallel ijnpcdum ; head distinctly punctured, with two elevations on the front, 

 and one fovea. Prothorax much longer than wide, and as well as the elytra, 

 very finely and sparsely punctured; the two inner longitudinal ridges are strong- 

 ly elevated, and extended in a tooth like prolongation over the apical margin 

 which therefore appears emargiuate; the intermediate spaces on each side of 

 the middle strise are convex, the middle striae approach each other in front 

 and diverge curvilinearly behind; elytral rows of punctures very fine. — Caro- 

 lina. 



[Lasconotus] referendarius Zim. — Length almost 1 line, somewhat narrower 

 than \pusillus Lee], colored, punctured and pubescent in the same manner, but 

 quite different in the {jrothorax. The dorsal costse are in fact ill-defined, and 

 only faint traces of two fine lines can be perceived in the deep longitudinal im- 

 l>ression ; on the elytra the 4 costse next the suture are distinctly elevated, 

 the first costa reaches the tip, the fourth is obsolete in front; between the costse 

 are two rows of coarse punctures. 



Colydium lineola Say. — Probably longiusculum Say is not different from this 

 species, from which it ought to differ by the absence of the medial dorsal line 

 of the prothorax ; since no other author mentions such a species, we might sup- 

 pose that its description by Say has originated in some error. 



Prolyctus Zim. — [Under this name he establishes for Bntlirideres 

 exaratus Mels., a separate genus, having the following characters.] 

 These insects diifer from the genuine Bothrideres, with which they 

 are often confused, by the short thick head, and transversely elongate 



[* No extracts from the MS. of Nitidulidse are here made, because a Monograph 

 of the family by Mr. A. Murray is now in progress.] 



