SPECIES OF THE MELOLONTHID GENUS LACHNOSTERNA. 193 



instructis, costa suturali angusta duabusque discoidalibus parum perspicuis ; 

 abdomine linea piligera circumdato, pygidio dense punctato et breviter erect e flavo- 

 pubescente, metasterno dense baud longe pallido-villoso, pedibus modice gracilibus, 

 antennis 10-articulatis, clava tripbylla, flava. 



(J, Unguibus anguste fissis ; 5, unguibus fortiter dentatis (vel apicibus late 

 divergentibus). 



Long. 20-22 mm. ; lat. max. 10 '5-12 mm. 



Trinidad : Verdant Vale {F. W. Urich — June). 



In size and general appearance this is rather like L. trinitatis, Arrow (fig. 1, b) from 

 the same island, but L. dilemma is more oval in shape, much more finely and closely 

 punctured, especially upon the pronotum, and clothed everywhere with a very fine 

 and close silky grey pubescence. Around the abdomen, at the line of contact with 

 the outer edges of the elytra, the pubescence abruptly ceases and a fringe of long 

 hairs is found. This, so far as I know, does not occur in any allied species. 



The abdomen of the male is hollowed beneath and the last ventral segment is 

 concave, smooth and shining, whilst that of the female is convex and strongly 

 punctured. The hind tarsi of the female are little shorter than those of the male, 

 but the tibiae are more dilated at the end and the spurs much shorter and broader. 

 The claws of the male are narrowly cleft, but in the female the two branches diverge 

 widely. 



There is considerable resemblance to the Central American L. setifera, Burm., 

 but the clothing of the upper surface is finer, the clypeus a little shorter and the 

 angles of the prothorax are less sharp. The male is easily distinguishable by its 

 narrowly cleft claws and the normal straight suture between the last two ventral 

 segments. There is also a resemblance to L. (Phy talus) cometes, Bates, but that is 

 lighter red in colour, rather more elongate, and the abdomen has no line of 

 demarcation between the dorsal and ventral parts corresponding with the outer 

 edges of the elytra. 



