﻿228 • LE CONTE.— SYNOPSIS OF THE 



apex, and a faint fovea near the side at the middle ; the anterior angles are acute. 

 The oral organs, sides of the head, and base of the antennas are also provided with 

 long hairs. 



2. MELOLONTH^E. 



This group differs from the others by the combination of the following characters : 

 five ventral segments of the abdomen are connate, with nearly effaced sutures, the 

 6th is distinct and rounded ; the parapleuree of the metathorax are broad and their 

 epimera are large. 



The latter important character was first observed by Lacordaire, (Gen. Col. 3, 292), 

 but has been overlooked by Burmeister, who distributes the contents into two groups, 

 Leucopholidae having the third joint of the antennas short, and Polyphyllidas having 

 the same joint elongated. The new genus Thyce, while important as being the 

 second generic representative of the group on this continent, is still more important, 

 as showing the greater correctness of the view taken by Lacordaire, since with the 

 habit and structure of head and feet of Polyphylla, it combines the antennas of Leu- 

 copholis. 



Additional characters common to our two genera, but which, though apparently 

 of importance, are not mentioned in the generic descriptions of Burmeister, are, that 

 the middle tibias, instead of being surrounded externally by two more or less developed 

 crowns of spines, (as in all Bhizotrogidas), are acutely bidentate ; the posterior tibiae 

 of Polyphylla are similar to the middle ones ; in Thyce the, inferior prominence is 

 transverse ; the suture between the fifth ventral segment and the propygidium is dis- 

 tinct, angulated at the middle, with the stigma placed exactly upon the angle ; the 

 thorax is not margined anteriorly, and is ciliate with short bristles. 



Our two genera are very distinct, and may be thus known : 



Antennarum articulo 3io longiore, clava polyphylla . . . . Polyphylla Harris. 

 Antennarum articulo 3io haud longiore, clava parva (?) triphylla . Thyce Lee. 



Polyphylla Harris. 



A. Tibiae maris anticas fortiter tridentatas. 



1. P. Hammondi, oblonga, fusca, supra parce albo-squamosa, thorace brevi lateribus oblique rotundatis, 



antrorsum angustato, canaliculate, trivittato, margine postieo longe comato, elytris parce punctatis, 



sutura anguste, vittaque brcvi basali densius albo^squamulosis, ano, antennis pedibusque ferrugineis. 



Long. -82— 1-0. 



Two males found at Fort Biley, Kansas, by Dr. Wm. A. Hammond, U. S. A. to 



whom I owe my most grateful acknowlegements for a very large and complete series 

 of the Coleoptera of that region. 



Body oblong, somewhat cylindrical, blackish brown, shining, above very sparsely 



