254 LECONTE— SYNOPSIS OF PTEROSTICHUS. 



obsoletely punctured. One of the elytra is occasionally tripunctate, but the points 

 are all behind the middle, so that one is evidently abnormal. Only two joints of the 

 antennse are rufous, and I am therefore in doubt whether this is the same as Dejean's 

 species, which has three rufous joints. I have never seen blue specimens. 



3. P. scitulus, oblongo-elongatus, depressus, supra viridis, nitidus, thorace postice subangustato, lateri- 



bus rotundatis, basi sinuatis, angulis posticis rectis, impressionibus basalibus profundis punctatis, externa 

 brevissima, elytris bipunctatis, profunde striatis, antennarum articulis duobus ferrugineis. Long. -35 — 4. 

 Lee. An. Lye. 4, 334. 



Platte River, Nebraska Territory. Also allied to the preceding species, but with 

 a deep anterior transverse line on the thorax, and much deeper elytral striae ; varies 

 of a bright bluish purple color. 



4. P. cyaneus, oblongus, subdepressus, supra nigro-cyaneus, thorace antrorsum subangustato, lateribus 



rotundatis, angulis posticis obtusis niinime rotundatis, impressionibus basalibus profundis, exteriore 

 brevi, elytris bipunctatis, striis profundis, antennarum basi vix picea. Long. -45. 

 Lee. An. Lye. 4, 231. 



Missouri Territory, near Long's Peak. The antennas are black, with the two 

 basal joints piceous beneath. 



5. P. Sayi,* oblongus, subdepressus, supra cupreus, vel seneus, thorace latitudine breviore, antrorsum 



angustato, lateribus rotundatis, angulis posticis rectis, impressionibus basalibus punctatis, profundis, 

 exteriore breviore, elytris bipunctatis, striis profundis punctatis, antennarum articulis tribus ferrugineis. 

 Long. -4 — -5. 



Brulle, Silb. Eev. Ent. 3, 277. 



Feronia chalcites Say, Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. 2, 56. 



Feronia {Pcecilus) chalcites Dej. Sp. Gen. 3, 211. 



Pcecilus chalcites Kirby, Fauna Bor. Am. 4, 37. 



Pcecilus micans Chaud. Bull. Mosc. 1843, 97. 



Atlantic States ; tolerably abundant. 



6. P. cursitor, oblongus, purpureo-niger, thorace antrorsum angustato, lateribus rotundatis, angulis 



posticis subrectis, impressionibus basalibus confluentibus valde punctulatis, elytris striis impunctatis, 

 antennarum articulis tribus ferrugineis. Long. *38 — -45. 

 Pcecilus cursorius\\ Lee. An. Lye. 5, 57. 



* I regret extremely that I am compelled to adopt a comparatively unknown name for this abundant and well- 

 known species. The law of priority is however inflexible, and Say's name must fall before Poecilus chal- 

 cites Germ. Ins. Nov. 15. The latter was published in 1824, while Say's paper could not have been printed 

 before 1825, the date upon the title page of the volume. It is a pity that a memoir made known to the American 

 Philosophical Society as early as 1819 should thus yield to one five years posterior to it ; but as I above observed, 

 the law of priority is inflexible, and, except within a few years, authors have been completely at the mercy of the 

 slow moving bodies to whom they entrusted their labors. As a remedy against this feebleness of action, an idea 

 was broached, in this city, and debated with considerable acrimony, that the date of reading before a learned 

 society should be considered as the true date of publication. It is remarkable that such a scheme should ever be 

 endorsed by any one claiming to have a regard for the purity of science, as it necessarily subjects the whole 

 scientific world to a dozen or two individuals, too often unknown to science, and to many of whom the subject 

 brought before them must be entirely without interest. 



