iEOLTTS. 367 



Juan Bautista, in company with the var. rubricatus ; the var. a we have received 

 only from the Mexican State of Vera Cruz. In a long series from almost any 

 locality the var. rubricatus is to be found. The elytra usually have a subtriangular 

 patch at the base and a common cruciform mark beyond the middle — the latter 

 sometimes joined to a spot on the outer margin, and forming an interrupted fascia, — 

 connected along the suture, black. In some specimens the suture is broadly black, and 

 in the others the basal patch is not connected with the post-median mark. The scutellum 

 is rufo-testaceous. The insect has, no doubt, been introduced into the Azores. 



16. iEolllS tropicalis. (Tab. XVI. figg. 10 ; 11, var. ; 11 a, genitalia, 6 .) 



Moderately elongate, rather convex, shining, finely pubescent ; testaceous or ferrugineo-testaceous, the head, 

 except in front, fuscous or piceous ; the prothorax with a large discoidal black patch, extending from the 

 apex to about one-third from the base and usually longitudinally excised in the middle behind ; the 

 elytra with a broad patch at the base, deeply excised towards the sides behind, and a broad cruciform 

 mark towards the apex, connected at the suture, and sometimes at the sides also, black (these markings 

 leaving a broad angulated interrupted median fascia, widening outwards, and a large oblong spot at 

 the apex, testaceous) ; the antennae testaceous, the legs flavous, the under surface usually in great part 

 piceous. Head convex, thickly, finely punctate, the frontal carina rounded and moderately prominent ; 

 antennae with joints 2 and 3 short and subequal, the two together about the length of 4. Prothorax 

 convex, slightly longer than broad, narrowed in front, the sides rounded anteriorly and feebly sinuate 

 behind ; the hind angles broadly triangularly produced, sharp, with a short fine carina at the sides 

 above, the carina joining the marginal one at the tip ; the surface thickly, finely, uniformly punctate. 

 Elytra scarcely twice the length of the prothorax, narrowing from about the middle, and conjointly 

 rounded at the apex ; very deeply punctate-striate, the interstices convex, and thickly minutely 

 punctate. 



Var. a. The prothorax black, with the base and anterior angles testaceous. 



Var. B. The prothorax with two short vittae on the disc in front, and the elytra with a triangular basal patch 

 and an angulated post-median fascia, black. 



Length 5|-7, breadth l£-2 millim. ( tf ? .) 



Hab. Mexico, Teapa in Tabasco (Edge) ; British Honduras (coll. Janson) ; Guate- 

 mala, Teleman and Chacoj in Vera Paz (Champion). 



Collected in numbers by myself in the vicinity of the Polochic River, a single specimen 

 only from each of the other localities. Like many of the allied forms, this species is 

 very variable in colour, according to the extent of the black markings. M. tropicalis 

 is closely allied to JE. melliculus, and greatly resembles the var. a of that insect ; but 

 may be known from it by the more parallel elytra and by the very different form of 

 the genitalia in the male ; the last-mentioned character will be best understood from our 

 figures on Tab. XVI. The var. a is from Teapa ; the type and the var. j3 from British 

 Honduras and the Atlantic slope of Guatemala. We figure a typical specimen from 

 Teleman and a male of the dark variety from Teapa, also the genitalia of the latter. 



17. iEolus circumscriptus. (Tab. XVI. fig. 12, var.) 



Elater circumscriptus, Germ. Ins. Sp. nov. p. 46 (1824) l (nee Zeitschr. fur Ent. v. p. 146) (nee 

 Cand. Cat. Method, p. 78). 



