BARK BEETLES OF THE GENUS HYLASTES DES 
wide, inner line entire, finely granulate. Antenna with first segment of club 
about as long as other three combined. 
Pronotum slightly narrower than elytra, from 1.15 to 1.2 times as long 
as wide; posterior outline nearly straight; posterior angles rounded; sides 
nearly straight (sometimes feebly arcuate) and subparallel on more than 
posterior half, then gradually narrowed to the moderately broadly rounded 
anterior margin; surface shining and polished between moderately coarse, 
deep, close punctures, not granulate; punctures smaller and denser in front, 
smaller and rugose-granulate at sides; side margin not acute behind; median 
line moderately broad, distinctly elevated; vestiture of short, fine, semierect 
hairs, not readily seen except in profile. 
Elytra somewhat wider than pronotum, about 1.89 times as long as wide; 
bases nearly straight; sides subparallel for more than two-thirds their length, 
then strongly narrowed to the narrowly rounded tip; surface opaque to sub- 
opaque on disk, opaque on declivity; striae distinctly impressed, first one 
more strongly, wider than interspaces; punctures coarse and close; interspaces 
moderately narrow, convex, with fine, confused punctures and granules, more 
strongly convex on declivity, with granules coarser and uniseriate; vestiture 
of numerous short, fine hairs, irregularly arranged on discal interspaces, longer 
and uniseriate, and with short, recumbent scales on declivity. Last abdominal 
sternite weakly convex, finely, closely, roughly punctured, narrowly rounded 
behind. 
Male.—Often slightly shorter and stouter, but similar to female in sculp- 
ture; last abdominal sternite slightly shorter than in female, very broadly 
rounded behind, devoid of median groove and of special pubescence. 
Remarks.—Nearly 200 specimens from such diverse localities as 
Ithaca, N. Y., eastern Tennessee, Key West, Fla., and various localities 
in West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and the Dis- 
trict of Columbia have been studied by the writer. The species has 
also been reported from Georgia and Texas by Chapuis. Most of the 
specimens were taken at sawmills, where they had been attracted by 
the freshly sawn pine, but a number were collected from the inner 
bark of stumps and roots of cut or deeply girdled Pinus taeda L, P. 
palustris Mill., Picea sp., and Abzes sp. 
As is usual in this genus, tenuis shows considerable variation, al- 
though by no means so much as porculus, nigrinus, and gracilis. 
Three specimens from Morgantown, W. Va., answer in part to the 
description of Eichoff’s tentatively proposed criticus, and Swaine, 
who has studied Eichhoft’s specimens, believes they arethesame. This 
may well be correct, but a careful study of several of the larger series 
of specimens of tenwes shows other specimens having similar characters 
and along with them many specimens possessing characters intermedi: 
ate between typical tenw7s and the so-called criticus. A large number 
of specimens have been studied which show from one to three or four 
of the five characters mentioned by Eichhoff in his descriptions of the 
tentative species criticus, and a few specimens show all the differ- 
ences mentioned. However, such specimens are found in long series, 
of which most of the specimens are unmistakably tenuis or intermedi- 
ate forms, and in the writer’s opinion represent variations of tenw?3. 
The writer believes that criticus should be placed as a synonym of 
tenuis. 
HYLASTES PUSILLUS, new species 
Female.—Dark piceous brown, 2.81 mm, long, about 3.05 times as long as wide. 
Frons rather wide between eyes, frontal rectangle almost exactly as long as 
wide, piceous brown with epistoma somewhat lighter; epistoma rather weakly 
impressed at each side, middle area elevated but not carinate; epistomal margin 
somewhat thickened and liplike, its median lobe poorly developed, very short, 
