172 Trans. Acad. Sci. oj St. Louis. 



Cauda, they being of stouter build, large size as a rule, with 

 Tery broad meso- and metasternal processes, the former 

 generally rounded at tip and the latter broadly and circularly 

 emarginate and frequently wider than the mesosternal, very 

 stout antennae, which however are not very strongly incras- 

 sate, and with the second joint much shorter than the third, 

 broadly rounded sides and base of the prothorax, with 

 subobsolete basal angles and with the abdomen only punc- 

 tured in apical half of the dorsal plates. The third consists 

 of much smaller species, resembling the first group in the 

 intermesocoxal parts, abdominal punctures and parallel pro- 

 thorax with distinct basal angles, but the antennae are much 

 more slender basally and more strongly incrassate distally, 

 with the second and third joints equal or nearly so. Semi- 

 velutina Solsky, does not occur within our borders but belongs 

 to the fauna of the warmer parts of Mexico, the head, pro- 

 thorax and elytra are all red. Ponderosa of the table was 

 formerly labeled valida in some cabinets but is not the same 

 as the species of LeConte, which has black elytra. I form- 

 erly regarded californica as identical with valida, but more 

 ample series of specimens show that it is a smaller and notably 

 less stout species. Decipiens is closely allied to opacella Shp., 

 but is probably not the same, differing in its smaller size and 

 stouter antennae. The type specimen of basalts has a remark- 

 able deformity on the surface of the pronotum, consisting of 

 a very large, strongly and obliquely elevated protuberance in 

 the form of a volcanic cone, having an elliptical crater at the 

 summit. 



If this genus is ever subdivided, the name Maseochara 

 may be applied to species of the opacella type and Tithanis 

 to those of the valida type. Mr. Fauvel has recently 

 assigned some East Indian species to Maseochara, but in all 

 probability they are not really congeneric. 



£!mplenota Csy. 



As the name Polystoma, employed by Stephens for this 

 genus, is a preoccupied name, and, since the word *^ Poli- 



