164 HETEROMERA. 
. - 
(Ove crs 
26. Oxacis variegata. (Tab. VII. fig. 23.) 
Very elongate, opaque; above blackish- or piceous-brown mottled with pale brown, very thickly clothed with 
coarse adpressed similarly-coloured pubescence, the entire surface densely and minutely punctured. Head 
uniformly punctured, the epistoma only smoother, the eyes and the outer part of the mandibles black or 
piceous, the eyes comparatively small; antennw brown or piceous, very long in the male, shorter in the 
female, joint 1 rather longer than 3, 11 emarginate a little beyond the middle; prothorax much longer 
than broad, the sides rounded anteriorly, shallowly but distinctly emarginate just before the apex, and 
abruptly and rapidly converging from some distance before the middle, the disc longitudinally depressed in 
the centre behind, and with a rather large deep or shallow oblique depression on either side anteriorly 
(sometimes with traces of a fine smooth median line), the base broadly and feebly emarginate in the 
centre; elytra usually with traces of two raised lines on the disc; beneath a little paler than, and not 
quite so finely punctured as, above, densely clothed with coarse pubescence; legs brownish and thickly 
pubescent ; tarsi with joints 1-4 of the front and intermediate pairs and 2 and 3 of the hind pair spongy- 
tomentose beneath, the claws simple. 
Length 84-14 millim. (¢ 92.) 
Hab. Mexico, Tehuacan in Puebla (Hége). 
Found in abundance by Herr Hége. This very distinct species differs from all the 
allied forms in the colour and pubescence of the upper surface being variegate. The 
pubescence is so close as to hide the dense and minute punctuation. ‘The thorax is 
rather abruptly dilated on each side before the middle, the dilated portion strongly 
rounded. ‘The tarsi have not only the penultimate joint tomentose beneath, but also 
one or two of the joints preceding it. The mandibles are entire and rather broad at 
the apex. The last joint of the maxillary palpi is elongate, and has its inner and apical 
sides about equal in length, and the inner angle somewhat rounded. The species is 
allied to O. angustata, but differs from it in having an additional number of tarsal joints 
tomentose beneath and in the form of the maxillary palpi; it most certainly cannot be 
separated from it generically. 
PIRAS. 
Last joint of the maxillary palpi broad, ovate, with the apex very obliquely truncate, that of the labial palpi 
narrow, oblong ovate, with the apex abruptly rounded; mandibles entire at the apex, the right mandible 
only with a short tooth on the upper inner side towards the tip ; mentum transverse; head prolonged into 
a broad beak in front, not very deeply sunk into, and narrower than, the prothorax; labrum large, 
subquadrate, and nearly as long as broad; eyes oblong, lateral, depressed, rather large, finely granulated, 
very slightly sinuate on their inner edge; antenns inserted near the eyes, moderately long, 11-jointed, 
1 longer than, 2 about one-third of the length of, 3, the following joints slightly decreasing in length, 
11 sinuate at the middle; prothorax long and cylindrical; elytra about one-half broader than the 
prothorax, moderately long, parallel to beyond the middle, and narrowing thence to the apex, the apices 
rounded together ; legs moderately slender, the femora not dilated in the male; tibize each with two long 
spurs ; penultimate joint of the tarsi rather broadly lobed; claws toothed. 
This genus includes two species from the Pacific coast—one from Mexico and one 
from Guatemala. Piras is allied to Rhinoplatia and Probosca, the former containing 
one representative in California, and the latter several species in the middle or south of 
EKurope*. It differs from the former in the much less prolonged head and toothed 
* The North-American species referred to this genus, as already noted, do not belong to it. 
