62 
Psyche 
[ March 
THE SUBSPECIES OF SPHAERODERUS 
CANADENSIS CHD. 
By P. J. Darlington, Jr. 
Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, Mass. 
Chaudoir described Sphaeroderus canadensis (Bull. Soc. 
Imp. Nat. Moscou 34, (1), 1861, pp. 498-9) in consider- 
able detail, giving the type locality as Canada, probably near 
the Ottawa River. S. palpalis Mots. (ibid. 38, (4), 1865, p. 
312) from “Hudson Bay” is placed as a synonym of cana- 
densis by Roeschke (Ann. Nat. Mus. Hungary 5, 1907, p. 
263), probably correctly, although Motschulsky’s descrip- 
tion of the elytra as “prof unde crenato-st [ r] iatis” does not 
fit typical canadensis very well. Sphaeroderus blanchardi 
Leng (Journ. New York Ent. Soc. 24, 1916, pp. 41-2), de- 
scribed as a subspecies of canadensis, is a pure synonym 
of the latter. Not only do paratypes of blanchardi in the 
Blanchard Collection in the Museum of Comparative Zo- 
ology answer the description of canadensis perfectly, but 
they are very closely matched by a specimen from Canada 
in the Leconte collection. This Canadian specimen lacks the 
setigerous punctures of the 4th and 8th elytral intervals 
just as New England (blanchardi) specimens usually do, 
and is not otherwise separable, although the elytral striae 
are a little more distinctly punctured than in most New 
England specimens. The difference, however, is too trifling 
to be significant. 
Although Leng was mistaken in describing a New Eng- 
land race, Sphxroderus canadensis does divide into two 
geographical subspecies on much the same characters 
which Leng (loc. cit.) points out. However, it was the 
southern, not the northern form which was undescribed, 
and which may now be separated under the following 
name : 
