﻿MELOLONTHIDiE OF THE UNITED STATES. 245 



A very common and through Atlantic America widely extended species, em- 

 bracing several races, to which, however, no definite characters can be given. The 

 color varies according to the maturity of the specimen, but usually the whole under 

 surface is ferruginous ; the last ventral segment of the male has a broad round impres- 

 sion, and the penultimate is transversely impressed and elevated. The tooth of the 

 claws of the tarsi in the male of the normal race is one-half shorter than the apical 

 part ; the club of the antennae is as long as the stem. In the female the club is small, 

 and the tooth of the claw is as long as the apical portion. The elytra are sometimes 

 very finely rugous without punctures, sometimes very finely and sometimes quite dis- 

 tinctly punctured ; the costse are usually obvious. The sides of the thorax are some- 

 times slightly, sometimes very strongly rounded ; the punctures are distinct but not 

 large nor dense, sometimes a smooth dorsal line is left. The clypeus is usually dis- 

 tinctly, though slightly emarginate, but in some specimens the undulation is hardly 

 perceptible. 



The principal races are as follows : 



a. Body nearly cylindrical, thorax much rounded on the sides; elytra finely and densely punctulate ; 

 male with long tooth on the ungues. L. consimilis Lee. Agassiz' Lake Sup. 226. 



/3. Body slightly ovate, thorax with the sides oblique and rounded, narrower than the elytra; male with 

 ungual tooth short. 



y. Body ovate, thorax strongly punctured with the sides oblique and rounded, shorter than' usual, nar- 

 rower than the elytra, which are strongly punctured. L. anxia Lee. Agass. Lake Sup. 226. A. hrevicollis 

 Blanch. Cat. Col. Mus. Paris, 132. 



8. Thorax narrower tban the elytra, almost angulated on the sides, finely sparsely punctured, elytra 

 moderately punctured ; claws of the male with long tooth. A. hrevicollis Burm. Lamell. 2, 2d, 322. 



s. Body hardly ovate, thorax slightly narrower than the elytra, much rounded on the sides, elytra dis- 

 tinctly and sometimes strongly punctured ; claws of male with a long tooth. Ancylonycha pimcticollis 

 Blanch. Cat. Col. Mus. Par. 133. 



rj. Larger, body subcylindrical, thorax very much rounded on the sides, elytra finely and densely rugu- 

 lose and slightly punctulate. Male with a long tooth on the claws. Rhizotrogus Drakii Kirby, Fauna 

 Bor. Am. 133. 



Ancyl. profunda and uniformis Blanch. Cat. Col. Mus. Paris 132, 133, 

 which are considered by Burmeister to be varieties of this species, appear by descrip- 

 tion so different that I am not warranted in so placing them, though the characters 

 given are not such as to enable them to be distinctly recognized. The first mentioned 

 is perhaps allied toL. Knochii. 



A male specimen from Wisconsin, belonging by form and sculpture to y, shows a 

 remarkable sexual peculiarity in the penultimate abdominal segment, the elevation on 

 which is very sharply defined and quite curved ; in all the other males I have seen 

 the elevation is straight although sometimes very slightly emarginate. 



17. L. cephalica, fusco-ferruginea, convexa, oblongo-ovata, nitida, capite haud confluenter punctato, 



utrinque parce breviter piloso, clypeo parum einarginato, thorace antrorsurn angustato fortius haud 



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