90 Memoirs on the Coleoptera 



be four in albicrus by Dejean, who also states that the body is 

 black, shining, the elytra duller, the prothorax subcordate and the 

 elytral striae obsoletely punctate. In describing albicrus, Dejean 

 does not mention the antennae at all, they probably having been 

 lost in his specimen, and what LeConte's albicrus, with three dorsal 

 punctures, may be, I cannot tell at present. Just why Dejean 

 should have named his species albicrus, when the legs are obscure 

 yellowish with blackish femora, is also rather inexplicable. 



It would be most interesting to know the environmental circum- 

 stances, or the life habits, that should have evolved the peculiar 

 coloration of the antennae seen in picticorne. The small Lebiid 

 EuccBrus varicornis, also has antennae somewhat of this nature, but 

 there it is the five outer joints that are abruptly white. 



Elliptoleus Bates 

 Under this generic name Mr. Bates described a few species from 

 southern Mexico, of small size and peculiar appearance. The 

 antennae are slender, with the third and fourth joints equal, the palpi 

 normal, the pronotum nearly flat, very finely margined and with 

 the foveae reduced to barely observable impressions, which are 

 slightly elongate and distant from the side margin. The elytra 

 are evenly oval, the sides not more arcuate basally, the hind wings 

 apparently wanting ; they are deeply sinuate at base, and the angle 

 made by the basal margin and sides is prominent and acute. The 

 met-episterna are short. A specimen of the type species, named 

 vixstriaius by Bates, and taken in the Federal District, is the only 

 representative in my collection. It is very small in size, highly 

 polished throughout and piceous, the elytral striae extremely fine 

 and feeble; there are three dorsal punctures on the left elytron of 

 this specimen and four on the right. The basal thoracic angles are 

 broadly rounded and the elytra at the middle are one-half wider 

 than the prothorax; its dimensions are 5.5 by 2.3 mm. In general 

 habitus it is not unlike Europhilus, but the antennal pubescence 

 does not begin on the third joint. 



Platynomicnis n. gen. 

 In this genus the body is very small and narrow, the head rhom- 

 boidal and very nearly as wide as the prothorax, which is parallel, 



