EPICALLA. 249 
EPICALLA. 
Epicalla, De}. Cat. 8rd edit. p. 219; Lacordaire, Gen. Col. v. p. 309, nota. 
Mentum trapezoidal; last joint of the labial palpi very broad and stout, rounded at the apex, that of the 
maxillary pair broadly securiform ; ligula strongly exserted ; mandibles truncate at the apex ; head short, 
rather deeply sunk into the prothorax; epistoma very short, sharply defined posteriorly by a deeply 
impressed transverse groove (limited on either side in front of the eyes by a deep fovea, the narrow anten- 
nary orbits in consequence prominent), truncate and projecting far beyond the orbits in front, separated 
from the labrum by a more or less distinct membranous clypeus; eyes very large, not widely separated, 
slightly oblique; antennee variable, long, with the outer joints longer than broad, or much shorter, with 
the penultimate joints subtransverse; prothorax transverse, strongly margined, the base bisinuate and 
with a broad oblique fovea on each side; scutellum large, scutiform; elytra convex, wider than and 
closely embracing the prothorax at the base, rather long, usually widening to beyond the middle, thence 
obliquely narrowing to the apex, somewhat strongly margined, a broad oblique impression on each side 
some distance within the swollen humeri, sometimes transversely impressed on each side just below the 
base, the latter appearing strongly margined, finely punctate-striate ; legs not very stout, shining, finely 
and sparingly punctured, the femora slightly swollen, the anterior tibiz# in both sexes clothed with short 
silky hair on the inner side towards the apex; tarsi thickly clothed with silky hair beneath, the anterior 
pair more or less dilated in the male, the first joint of the posterior pair rather long (longer than the 
two following joints united), equalling the apical one in length; tibial spurs almost or quite obsolete ; 
prosternum broad, horizontal, the anterior face hollow and declivous, sometimes swollen longitudinally on 
each side externally between the cox, the apex moderately produced and abruptly acuminate; meso- 
sternum more or less concave ; intercoxal process broad, rounded or subtriangular in front; epipleure 
ending abruptly at the last ventral suture; form oblong ovate or obovate, convex; body glabrous, highly 
polished and metallic, winged. 
This genus includes the Brazilian L. sudsulcata of Dejean’s Catalogue, various un- 
described forms from Venezuela and Colombia, and the three new species from Central 
America described here. Lpicalla will be recognized by the characters given; the 
species are comparatively rather small in size (E. data excepted). ‘The genus should 
be placed near Hlomosda and the South-American Thecacerus. Other allied unde- 
scribed South-American genera exist in collections, one of which contains species 
superficially resembling Hpitragus. The three species of Hpicalla here recorded, 
though not very closely allied, agree in their chief structural characters. In the 
South-American . subsulcata, Dej., the male tarsi are very evidently dilated ; in the 
males (the only sex I am able to identify) of our species the tarsi are only moderately 
dilated. 
1. Epicalla varipes. (Tab. XI. figg. 7, ¢; 7a, labium; 76, maxilla and 
maxillary palpus.) 
Oblong ovate, eeneous, very shining. Head smooth, impunctate ; antenne long, joint 2 short, about as broad 
as long, joint 3 nearly three times as long as 2, joint 4 shorter than 3, Widening outwardly, joints 5-10 
very slightly increasing in length outwardly, longer than broad, joint 11 the width of but longer than 10 
and very bluntly rounded at the apex, joints 5-11 finely and closely punctured, dull, and pubescent, the 
rest smoother and shining, ferruginous ; prothorax transverse, very strongly margined, the margins deeply 
grooved within, widest at the base, the sides sinuate from the middle to the outwardly produced subacute 
hind angles, slightly narrowing anteriorly, the anterior angles broadly rounded, the disc deeply impressed 
transversely in the middle behind, and with a shallow central groove ending in a deep longitudinal 
impression, the basal fovese deep and connected anteriorly with the discal fovea by a shallow transverse 
BIOL. CENTR.-AMER., Coleopt., Vol. IV. Pt. 1, December 1886. 9KK 
