TOMOCEPHALUS. 497 



(Belt, Richardson) ; Costa Rica ( Van Patten) ; Panama, Bugaba, Volcan de Chiriqui 

 (Champion). — Colombia 2 ; Venezuela 1 3 ; Ecuador ; Brazil. 



Not uncommon in Central America, though it has not yet been received from 

 Guatemala (where it should occur on the Atlantic slope). It varies greatly in size, 

 some of the males being no larger than T. sardioderus, and in the colour of the meta- 

 sternum and abdomen, these parts (the apex of the latter excepted) being sanguineous 

 in one of the Colombian specimens before me. The prosternum is always black 

 or piceous. T. substriatus is extremely closely allied to the South -American 

 T. sanguinicollis, Latr., but may be separated from it by the elytra not being distinctly 

 carinate externally at the apex. A male from Chiriqui is figured. 



2. Tomocephalus melanotns. (Tab. XXII. fig. 2, 2 .) 



Tomicephalus sardioderus, var. a, Cand. Monogr. Elat. iv. p. 286 \ 



Elongate, flattened above, very shining, deep black ; beneath entirely black, or with the first three or four 

 ventral segments, and sometimes the whole or part of the metasternum also, sanguineous ; the tarsal 

 claws rufous ; above very sparsely clothed with long, fine, blackish hairs, which are erect on the head and 

 prothorax and decumbent on the elytra, beneath very sparsely clothed with fulvo-cinereous hairs. Head 

 sparsely, coarsely punctate ; antennae stout, extending to about three joints beyond the hind angles of the 

 prothorax in the male, shorter in the female, the joints from the fourth broadly widened and serrate. 

 Prothorax as long as broad, subconical, rapidly narrowing from the base forwards, the sides a little 

 rounded anteriorly and very feebly sinuate behind ; the hind angles moderately long, divergent, slightly 

 incurved at the tip, carinate ; the surface with very widely scattered punctures, which are fine on the 

 disc, but become coarser towards the sides and apex, deeply canaliculate behind, and with a space down 

 the centre from the middle to the base impunctate. Elytra about three and one-fifth times longer than 

 the prothorax, rapidly narrowing from the base, broadly and deeply depressed in front near the shoulders 

 and also depressed along either side of the suture to the apex, the sutural angles mucronate and slightly 

 dehiscent ; finely, confusedly, and somewhat thickly punctate, and with indications of faint longitudinal 

 furrows. Beneath very sparsely punctured. 



Length 111-13, breadth (of the base of the elytra) 3-3| millim. ( <$ $ .) 



Hah. Mexico, Cordova (Salle x ) ; Guatemala, Cerro Zunil, San Isidro, Zapote 

 (Champion). 



Found not uncommonly on the Pacific slope of Guatemala. The single specimen 

 from Mexico is the only one received with the abdomen and metasternum entirely 

 black. Larger and less convex than T. abdominalis ; the thorax wider behind, more 

 conical in shape in both sexes, and more coarsely punctured at the sides and in front ; 

 the elytra wider at the base (appearing more attenuate), more flattened on the disc, 

 especially at the apex, and with faint longitudinal furrows (the one next the suture 

 distinct), the basal depressions larger and deeper and with distinct longitudinal grooves 

 indicating the position of the striae. Apart from the difference in the colour of the 

 thorax, T. melanotus may be easily separated from T. substriatus by its more elongate 

 thorax. A Guatemalan specimen is figured. 



biol. centr.-amer., Coleopt, Vol. III. Pt. 1, May 1896. 3 S 



