MO. 1124. HEVISION OF THE MELASOPLI-SCIDDER. 321 



103. MELANOPLUS LEPIDUS. new species. 

 (I'late XXI, ti^'. !».) 



Slightly below iiie<liiiin size, blackish fuscous, with a feeble fciru^i- 

 iioua tinge. Head not i»roininent. testaceous, very hcax ily tlecked and 

 ]»unctate and often sutfused with fuscous, above almost wholly blackish 

 fuscous, with a sleiulcr testaceous strii)e separating the <laik vertex 

 from the broad, piceous, j)ostocular band; vertex gently tunnd, dis- 

 tinctly elcvateil above the prcniotuui, tiie interspace between the eyes 

 scarcely broader than (male) or nearly twice as broad as (female) the 

 first antenna! Joint: fastigium steeply declivent, deeply (male) or mod- 

 erately (female) sulcate throughout: frontal (;osta i)ercurreiit, taintly 

 narrowed above in the male, otherwise equal, as broad as the ihtcrspace 

 between the eyes, sulcate at and below the ocellus, jjunctatc thiough- 

 out, above biseriately: eyes moderately large, rather prominent, ('spe- 

 cially in the male, somewhat longer than the infraocular portion of the 

 genae; antennae castaneous, uearly five sixths (male) or hardly tlirce- 

 tifths (female) as long as the hind femora. Pronotum subequal. faintly 

 expanding posteriorly throughout (female) or only on the metazoiui 

 (male), the lower portion of the lateral lobes ferrugineo testa<'eous, 

 the upper piceous, at least ou the prozona, and sometimes obscurely so 

 on the metazona, the disk broadly convex and passing by a scar<;ely 

 angulate well-rounded shoulder, nowhere with a semblance of lateral 

 carinae, into the vertical lateral lobes; median carina very slight, on 

 the prozona subobsolete; front margin truncate, hind margin obtus- 

 angulate; prozona longitudinal (male) or <iuadrate (female), sparsely, 

 coarsely, and very shallowly ])unctate. about half as long again as the 

 tincly and closely punctate metazona. Prosternal spine rather long, 

 conical, erect, very blunt, feebly ajipressed, a little shorter aiid coarser 

 iu the female than in the male; interspace between mesosternal lobes 

 nearly half as long again as broad (male) or (piadrate (female). Tegmina 

 abbreviate, about as long as the pronotum, attingent or feebly over- 

 lapping, broad ovate, nearly or somewhat les-s than twice as long as 

 broad, apically angulate, blackish fuscous. Fore and middle femora 

 somewhat tumid in the male: hind femora slender, particularly in the 

 feinale, dull ferrugineo-testaceous. generally veiy broadly bifasciate 

 with fuscous, and the whole geniculation fuscous, but these markings 

 often more or less suttused and confused, the lower face warm testa- 

 ceous; hind tibiae glaucous or dark glaucous, generally paler at the 

 hase, with a glaucous or fusco glaucous patellar anuulus, the spines 

 black beyond the pallid base, eleven to thirteen in number in the outer 

 series. Extremity of male abdomen considerably clavate and recurved, 

 the supraaual plate triangular, with feebly angulate sides and sub- 

 acutaugulate apex, the margins gently elevated, the median sulcus 

 ecjual, percurrent, moderately broad, rather deep, between sharj) but 

 little elevated walls, with a straight median transverse plica; furcula 

 Proc. :N^. M. vol. XX 21 



