Proceedings of the United States National Museum

Without any definite idea of these notes, I thought they might be useful in the census. species kept in the museum collection. Professor Riley, by his kind permission to use museum material and by the suggestions he offered, made a substantial contribution to the whole document. I just want to add some information about the properties of the type. and to record my ideas before others.

I have found that the more symmetrical and developed the character of the man, the stronger the characters of the woman will be found. In any case, the mobility of the male claspers is not great, and in some species they are absolutely motionless, being united in front and forming a Knpletering. I observed them in large numbers on the young maples in front of the house, and found that they were mostly females.

I believe the apnis and inversa were also taken early, flying from the oaks at the foot of the hill. The time spent was approximately one and a half hours, and the capacity of the bottles determined the cessation of the collection.

At Lanier Heights. Night hot and close, Photinus pyralis

The collection was from pears, and very sharp in the weeds of my lower terrace, which I had. This seems to strongly indicate why the Department's grounds proved such an excellent locality. The nights from the 10th to the 13th, inclusive, were cold and windy, and nothing but a few arcuata and hirticula, and an occasional venture.

From that time until the end of the month it was almost every moment of my time, both day and night. There were a few specimens attracted to my window at Lanier Heights by the light, but not many. This record gives the approximate local material at hand, all of which has been carefully examined in the preparation of this paper.

Horn's article made possible and well illustrates the peculiar and intuitive perception of relationships, which is so marked in the doctor's work that almost all his groups after studying the genital organs turn out to be perfectly natural. I owe to Ulke a large number of specimens collected at an electric light in Cleveland, Ohio, and these proved that they all belonged to one species—the true fusoa.

NOTES ON THE SPECIES, PRINCIPALLY IN THE MUSEU3I COLLECTION

This gives a total of twenty-five species, a rather disproportionate representation of the total for so small a territory in so widely distributed a genus as Lachnosterna, and indicating a considerable addition to the number of species when careful collections must have been made.

494 NOTES OX LACHXOSTERXA

1888.] PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 495

496 NOTES ON LACHNOSTERNA

In the 9, the true pubic process becomes well marked for the first time, the superior plates united, forming the basis on which. In the 9, the superior plates are more normal and are divided, but still function as the genital process.

498 NOTES ON LACIINOSTERNA

499and not taken lightly, judging from the small number of copies in and not taken lightly, judging from the small number of copies in collections. There is absolutely no variation in the large series before me, except for a slight difference in the intensity of the brown. In the 9, the superior clasps have been completely modified into supports for the double pubic process, which is very similar to that of the affinisin type, although very different details.

V 5 are symmetrical and quite similar to the generosa type in the early part of the series.

500 NOTES ON LACHNOSTERNA

1888.] PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 501

Horn in his study offusca and pointed out both the differences that were considered specific and racial, and the reasons why they are still regarded as forms of the same species. Horn also pointed out some differences in ventral features, but he considered them - within the limits of variability, even if the significance of the variety. The misleading character of the grouping lies in the fact that all the species into which I have divided it differ in exactly the same way, so that it is easy to obtain a series of specimens which are nearly identical in all characters except those of the ventral segments of the male, and which they represent at least six different species.

In the course of our collecting we first noticed the remarkable constancy of the ventral characters in the males of the species, or rather confusedly taken by us and from. An examination of the primary sexual characters showed, however, that the interrelation found in the other species also existed here, and that the species were well marked in both sexes.

504 NOTES ON LACHNOSTERNA

It is quite numerous in New York, and constituted a fair portion of the specimens received from Chicago, 111., from Mr. Westcott, but is rare in Washington, only one specimen having been taken in the last season (1888). The ventral character of the male must be examined in order to recognize that sex, and no difficulty will be found in it.

In the District of Columbia it is very rare that no specimens were taken at all during the 1888 season, and only a few specimens from the locality are in the local collections. The sides of the thorax are very noticeably subangulated before the middle, giving the characteristic appearance of the species, which is generally easily recognized in both sexes. In the female, the last segment is emarginate, and the middle of the abdomen, especially towards the base, is distinctly and somewhat acicularly punctate.

The female is quite characteristic and differs from all other forms in that the pubic process is rather slender and forked - quite. Antennal club as long as the stem, abdomen flattened in the middle, penultimate segment with a perfectly straight, weakly raised margin, behind which the segment is strongly depressed, making the slope deep and abrupt without any great elevation of the surface of the margin. The edge is close to the edge of the segment and almost coincides with it in the Tennessee specimen.

The pygidium is more elongated than in the male, brighter, the punctures are more impressed. The previous four specimens are very uniform in appearance and mostly differ in usually paler color and much rounder appearance, where the punctation is thicker. The lateral border of the thorax was also very faint, but not so much as to throw the species into another group.

The pot-bellied character of the male gives an obvious and safe distinguishing feature for this sex. Elytra closely and confluently punctured, the dots tending to form longitudinal sets; costae evident but not very elevated. The pubic process is here deeply forked at the tip, but not completely divided, while the separate tip is variable and pointed.

508 NOTES ON EACHNOSTERNA

18B8.] PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 509

PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 511 up one specimen in the morning on a walk in the Smithsonian grounds,

512 NOTES ON LACHNOSTEKNA

18H8.] PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 513

514 NOTES ON LACHNOSTEKNA

518 NOTES ON LACHNOSTERNA

The sexual characters are even simpler than the foregoing, and are strikingly similar to those of lanceolata in the male. In the female, the upper plates are united along the midline and form the usual substitute for the pubic process. Dr. Horn says of a woman: 'Claw, tooth long and mid-length.' In the example before me, the tooth is fairly long, but definitely intramedian, especially on the anterior tarsi.

These longer hairs along the elytral costa of the female are very distinct and distinct, even in some of the males, though never so pronounced. Female structures, on the other hand, are reduced to a minimum, only the lower plates remain distinct.

520 NOTES ON LACHNOSTERNA

The buckles are of a slightly different type to those of the previous types, while still being symmetrical and free in the front. It approaches the glabricula type. The biggest factor in terms of variability is the length of the antennae in the male. The genitalia of the male are figured and, like all in the present group, the claspers are symmetrical and united anteriorly. In all types, the structure is very similar, and small details only emphasize the differences between them.

EXPLANATION OF PLATES XLVII1-LX