Baring 399 



There is at hand but a single example, but the differential char- 

 acters given above will easily enable one to identify the species. 



The species described by Herbst under the specific name picumnus 

 is abundant, but is much more restricted in range than I formerly 

 thought, the more than forty specimens in my collection being from 

 Massachusetts (Sherborn) and North Carolina, westward to Ne- 

 braska and Kansas and southward to Mississippi and Louisiana; 

 it does not seem to occur in either Florida or Texas, and the Arizona 

 examples at hand form still another species as follows: 



Centrinaspis paulula n. sp. — Rather narrower and less evenly oval than 

 in picumnus, the prothorax relatively narrower, almost similarly clothed, 

 the scales a little broader and almost pure white; beak, antennae and 

 sexual characters almost similar; prothorax slightly over a fourth wider 

 than long, similar in outline, except that the apex is more distinctly 

 tubulate; elytra almost similar in outline and sculpture, but with more 

 prominent humeri. Length (cf 9 ) 2.4-2.65 mm.; width 0.95-1. 15 mm. 

 Arizona (locality unrecorded). Six examples. 



In pictcmnus the elytra are only very slightly wider than the 

 prothorax and approximately twice as long, while in paulula they 

 are fully a fourth wider than the prothorax and evidently less than 

 twice as long, besides having white and not more or less fulvous 

 vestiture. From compacta it differs in its narrower and less ab- 

 breviated outline. All of these species are closely allied in type of 

 structure and vestiture, but differ in form and proportion of the 

 parts, coloration and other features and undoubtedly have different 

 food-plants. 



Centrinaspis compacta n. sp. — Form and vestiture somewhat as in 

 picumnus but more abbreviated and with the dense lineiform scales above 

 silvery white; beak in the female similar but relatively somewhat longer, 

 being very nearly as long as the elytra; prothorax relatively longer and 

 not so transverse, being only a fourth wider than long, the sides similarly 

 converging and evenly, though a little more strongly, arcuate, the apex 

 more tubulately prolonged; elytra shorter, though of almost similar 

 outline, the very dense confused vestiture leaving the deep striae sharply 

 defined, evidently wider than the prothorax in similar manner, but only 

 two-thirds longer and not about twice as long as they are in picumnus; 

 legs similarly obscure rufous. Length (cf 9 ) 2.5-2.6 mm.; width 1. 15- 

 1.2 mm. Texas (Columbus). Two examples. 



The description is taken from the female type and is compared 

 with the same sex of picumnus; the male is slightly more narrowly 

 oval, but the prothorax is similarly larger and more apically tubulate 

 and the elytra relatively shorter than in the male of picumnus. 



