236 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis. 
which is generally of a dark testaceous with the last two seg- 
ments black, may become wholly black, while in others, such 
as discopunciatus, the black color of the last two segments 
never shows any tendency to spead anteriorly. Although 
some are very variable, others, such as the /ongiusculus group, 
including the pale Sonoran species, appear to be quite con- 
stant in the limited ornamentation that they possess. The 
secondary sexual characters are very simple, consisting only 
of a small deep and acute cusp-like emargination of the sixth 
ventral and are but slightly diversified, rendering a satisfac- 
tory classification of the species very difficult; that suggested 
below is merely provisional and a much better one may be 
devised in the future. The twenty-one species in my cabinet 
may be known by the following characters :— 
Species of the Atlantic coast to eastern Texas and including the entire 
Mississippi Valley... .cccccccedccedcuses cccnvsiccseccesccvescesesveee @ 
Species of the SOMOraN Province. .cesecercccccsecescccrece vvcsccccsssccvel® 
Species of the true Pacific coast fauna, extending inland to the northward 
as far.as the Rocky Mountalag.'s sce is ccapescdceccccnsvesesseceeseees 17 
2 — Head invariably black or piceous-Dlack..cccecccccsesececcccccvevcce 3 
Head always pale in COloration.....ccccccecceccccccesesccsescese ce venien ie 
8 — Elytra pale, maculate with black, occasionally entirely black......... 4 
Elytra completely pale in color, never Maculate....secerecevececeseeeveeld 
4— Large species, not less than 4.4 mm. in length, the general color dark 
throughout...... Cee u cece ee eee eee sere eee eee eee Hees ceseeesseseese © 
Small species, not exceeding 3.7 mm. in length when the abdomen is not 
EXCESSIVElY EXteNded.... sree veccvcrcccsseccrscesesesevesesesescsess & 
5 — Elytra distinctly longer than the prothOrax..cecececcceseeserececevee 6 
Elytra equal to or shorter than the prothorax..cececcossccccceccccecccees F 
6 — Parallel, feebly shining, black throughout, and legs and antennae pale, 
the elytra pale in apical fourth, the pale area increasing in lergth 
inwardly, occupying almost apical half on the suture and extending 
feebly along the latter to the base; sculpture of the head and pronotum 
rather coarse, dense and somewhat longitudinally confluent as usual; 
punctures of the elytra strong and rugose but distinctly separated, of the 
abdomen finer but strong, asperulate and arranged in the usual trans- 
versely wavy series; head large, slightly wider than the elytra, longer 
than wide, the eyes convex and prominent and at slightly more than 
their own length from the base; basal part behind them obtrapezoidal, 
with the angles broadly rounded; prothorax oval, much longer than 
wide, widest and broadly rounded at the sides at apical third; elytra 
distinctly longer than wide, narrowed gradually toward tip, obviously 
wider and longer than the prothorax; abdomen at base as wide as the 
elytral apex, slightly wider posteriorly. Male distinctly more slender 
than the female, with the head and prothorax larger when compared 
