.344 Memoirs on the Coleoptera 



rapidly becoming coarser at base, the intervals flat, each with a single 

 series of very small and distant punctures; intervals two to five each with 

 a short line of pale scales at apioal third, the third with dense white 

 scales in basal fourth or fifth, there are also a few large and widely 

 scattered scales; under surface with condensations of pale scales as in 

 albilatus, the abdominal punctures less strong, the legs shorter. Length 

 (cf 9) 2.3-2.8 mm.; width 0.8-1.0 mm. Louisiana. Four examples. 



Differs from albilatus in its smaller size, much more slender beak, 

 less strongly punctate surfaces and especially in the elytral striation, 

 the fine grooves becoming rapidly rather coarse at base ; in albilatus 

 the grooves are much less fine but are not enlarged perceptibly at 

 base. 



Cosmobaris n. gen. 

 In this proposed genus the beak, mandibles and legs are nearly 

 as in Baris, but the body is squamose and the beak separated from 

 the head by a deep transverse sulcus. The antennae are slender, 

 with very moderate oval club, the first joint of which constitutes 

 rather more than half the mass and is loosely pubescent; the basal 

 funicular joint is as long as the next three. The prosternum is flat, 

 feebly fossulate transversely at apex and it separates the coxae by 

 about half their width. The prothorax is feebly constricted at 

 apex. The type may be described as follows : 



Cosmobaris americana n. sp. — Oblong-oval, convex, black, the pro- 

 notal scales large, dense and whitish, wanting in a large medio-basal 

 area having a few slender darker scales; on the elytra the large white 

 scales are condensed in a few small spots, in a larger area just behind 

 the middle and near the suture and on the suture basally, elsewhere 

 more slender, linear and pale brown; the propleura are partially denuded, 

 the pale scales elsewhere on the under surface narrow and well separated, 

 coarser, denser and whiter on the met-episterna; beak feebly arcuate, 

 strongly sculptured and as long as the head and prothorax, rather less 

 in the male, the sparse squamules pale brown and not conspicuous; pro- 

 thorax a fourth wider than long, the sides feebly converging, rapidly 

 rounded anteriorly to the subtubulate apex; punctures strong and close- 

 set; basal lobe feeble; scutellum small, nude; elytra one-half (9) to 

 two-fifths (cf) longer than wide, rather rapidly obtuse at apex, slightly 

 wider than the prothorax and more than twice as long, the humeri not 

 distinctly prominent; grooves moderate; intervals two or three times as 

 wide as the grooves, finely, loosely punctate. Length 3.0-3.25 mm.; 

 width 1.15—1,3 mm. Rhode Island and Pennsylvania. 



The European Baris scolopacea Germ., comes closer to this species 

 than any other, but is narrower and more cylindric, with the pro- 



