THE GENUS DENDKOCTONUS. 139 



darker reddish brown to nearly black, while the elytra are light to 

 dark red. The greatest variation noted in the few specimens under 

 observation is in size, with less variation in sculpture and vestiture 

 than in the preceding species, Nos. 14, 15, and 17. 



Distinctive characters. — The characters which serve to at once dis- 

 tinguish this species from the preceding allied ones are the coarse 

 punctures of the posterior section of the proepisternal area, the more 

 distinctly red elytra, the bright-red hairs, and the much less distinctly 

 impressed elytral striae of the lateral area. 



Revisional notes. — There is quite extensive literature under the 

 name Hylurgus rujlpennis Kirby and Dendroctonus rnjipennis Kirbj^ 

 Apparently no part of it except the original description refers to 

 Kirby's species, and even the type series in the British Museum repre- 

 sents at least one other species. It appears that up to the fall of 1906 

 the only representative of the species in the collections of this country 

 was a female specimen in the Hubbard & Schwarz collection, U. S. 

 National Museum, labeled "White Fish Point, L. S." This, with other 

 specimens of the Dendroctonus oi the U. S. National Museum and Hub- 

 bard & Schwarz collections, was submitted to the writer in December, 

 1898, for study, and was then labeled "H. S. 28." In 1900 this speci- 

 men, together with another labeled "H. B." (Northwest Territory) 

 from the National Museum collection, and some specimens collected 

 by the writer from the spruce in Maine, were sent to the British 

 Museum for comparison with Kirby's type of D. rujipennis. They 

 were compared by Mr. Charles O. Waterhouse who, in a letter dated 

 November 1, 1900, wrote as follows: 



I have examined your species, but am only concerned with your two largest speci- 

 mens. We have three of the specimens which Kirby had before him, all marked 

 exactly alike. The one to which he attached his ticket is a dark-brown variety (unless 

 it is stained with grease), but in all other respects agrees with your H. S. 28, with 

 fairly equally distributed punctuation on the thorax. Kirby's two other specimens 

 have red elytra and agree with your H. B. 7401, 824, and have a closely punctured 

 impression or flattening at the base of the thorax. 



The specimen in the type series which bore the name label when the 

 comparison was made should be recognized as the type. Thus it is 

 quite certain that our H. S. 28 from White Fish Point, Lake Superior, 

 is a true representative of the species, while the two other specimens 

 with which our H. B. 7401, 824, etc., agree evidently represent D. en- 

 gelmanni and are probably the specimens referred to by Kirby as 

 coming from Lat. 65°. The writer is informed by Mr. Schwarz that 

 our H. B. (No. 7401) specimen came from about the same latitude. 

 The other specimens from Maine, which were so different from the 

 type as to be at once recognized as distinct, were representatives of 

 D. piceaperda Hopk. 



The pupse, larvee, and galleries have not been observed. 



