REVISION OF TENEBRIONID SUBFAMILY CONIONTIN^E 145 



the legs and antennae piceo-rufous ; head nearly similar, the sinus 

 broader, moderately deep, angular, the lobes broadly rounded; 

 prothorax almost exactly as in subglaber, the deflexed anterior 

 angles blunt and by no means so sharply defined as in obesus, the 

 punctures very fine and rather sparse but almost similarly strong 

 and close-set laterally, the hind angles a little less prolonged and 

 blunter ; scutellum similar, the elytra still more elongate, parallel 

 in both sexes, nearly one-half longer than wide, shorter in the 

 male, the punctures fine and sparse though distinct throughout ; 

 prosternum strongly, rather closely punctate, the process some- 

 times feebly margined at the sides but never at tip ; abdomen 

 finely, sparsely punctate, a little more coarsely but still sparsely 

 so toward the sides (?) or closely and more coarsely so (c?). 

 Length 6.2-7.0111111.; width 3.15 3.35 mm. California (Bodie, 

 elevation 8475 feet) argutus n. sp. 



Form nearly similar but more convex and with the elytra inflated, 

 probably more or less in both sexes, polished, deep black, the 

 legs and antennae rufo-piceous ; head nearly as in the preceding 

 species, strongly and closely punctured; prothorax as in argutus, 

 the deflexed anterior angles right and blunt ; surface rather finely 

 but strongly, not very closely punctate, strongly and closely so 

 laterally; scutellum a little larger, similarly equilatero-triangular ; 

 elytra at the middle much wider than the prothorax, not a third 

 longer than wide, the sides parallel, evenly and rather strongly 

 arcuate, very rapidly rounding behind to the ogival but less prom- 

 inent tip ; surface smooth, very finely, sparsely punctured ; under 

 surface nearly as in the preceding species, the abdomen strongly, 

 moderately sparsely punctured, more coarsely so laterally. Length 

 6.5 mm.; width 3.4^ mm. Colorado (Buena Vista, elevation 

 about 8000 feet), H. F. Wickham micans n. sp. 



Some time ago I suppressed subglaber, as a synonym of obesus, 

 but more careful study shows that this course was premature ; 

 they are not by any means the same species. Mr. Warren 

 Knaus kindly sent me a specimen of the species named argu- 

 tus above, and I had also previously secured a series of four 

 specimens from Mr. Wickham, giving a sufficiently complete 

 succession of individuals for study ; there is very little variation, 

 but the male is notably less elongate than the female, some- 

 times having a more shining surface and stronger abdominal 

 punctures. It is interesting to note that the inflation of the 

 elytra is not necessarily a sexual character, though, when it 

 occurs in both sexes, it is more pronounced in the female, and 

 also to observe that some species in both groups of the genus, 

 otherwise closely allied, may have the elytra inflated or without 

 trace of inflation even in the female. 



