TOMOXTA. . 261 
a. Scutellum about twice as broad as long, emarginate behind ; penultimate joints of the 
anterior and middle tarsi filiform ; middle tibie shorter than the tarsi of the same 
pair of legs; last joint of the maxillary palpi stout, subsecuriform ; head mode- 
rately convex. 
1. Tomoxia spinifer. (Tab. XI. figg. 8,2; 8a, hind leg, d .) 
Short, broad, black; the head and prothorax with brown or griseous pubescence, that on the disc of the 
prothorax in light-coloured examples indeterminately darker; each elytron with a transverse or oblique 
spot of variable size on the middle of the disc a little beyond the middle—sometimes interrupted or in the 
form of an irregular angulated fascia, sometimes reduced to a small spot,—the suture, the base broadly in 
some examples, and, rarely, some markings at the apex, yellowish-grey- or griseous-pubescent, the rest of 
the surface with blackish or blackish-brown pubescence. Head exceedingly broad, moderately convex, the 
eyes reaching to the occiput; last joint of the maxillary palpi large, its outer and apical sides about equal 
in length, and each nearly twice as long as the inner side; antennz moderately long, in the male slender, 
with the joints 5-10 feebly serrate, longer than broad, in the female shorter, with the joints 5-10 broader 
and more serrate, the penultimate ones about as broad as long, the apical joint scarcely emarginate on the 
inner side towards the tip; prothorax broadly and shallowly emarginate in the middle behind; scutellum 
transversely subquadrate, about twice as broad as long, emarginate in the middle behind; elytra broad, 
short, only about twice as long as the prothorax; epipleure broad at the base, but abruptly narrowed a 
little behind the anterior limit of the hind coxe; pygidium moderately long, extending some distance 
beyond the hypopygium, a little shorter in the female, truncate at the apex ; anterior and middle tarsi 
very slender and filiform, the penultimate joints not in the least dilated; middle tibie about the length of 
joints 1-4 of the tarsi of the same pair of legs; hind legs stout, the tibize as long as the basal two joints of 
the tarsi united; anterior tibia curved inwards from the base and the hind trochanters produced into a 
stout curved tooth in the male. 
Length to the end of the elytra 43-5}, to tip of the pygidium 53-6, millim. ; breadth 24 millim. (3 2.) 
Hab. Nicaragua, Chontales (Belt); Panama, Bugaba, Volcan de Chiriqui (Champion). 
Seven examples. This species resembles the European 7. biguttata, Gyll., with 
which it agrees exactly in the form of the tarsi, scutellum, &c.; but it is much broader 
than that insect, and the elytra are relatively very much shorter. The reflexed limb of 
the.elytra (viewed from the side) is very strongly sinuate; the hind coxe are enormously 
developed; the pygidium is of similar form to that of 7’. diguttata. The amount of 
griseous pubescence varies considerably: in the single specimen from Chontales it is 
more extended, occupying the basal third of the elytra, and the post-median fascia 1s 
larger, and there are some markings at the apex; in one or two of the Chiriqui 
examples it is reduced to a very small spot behind the middle of the disc of the elytra, 
the rest of the pubescence being dark brown. 7. muriniceps, Chevr., from Colombia, 
is apparently an allied species, but the brief diagnosis given by its author does not. 
agree in several particulars with 7. spinifer. 
9. Tomoxia contracta. (Tab. XI. fig. 9, 2.) 
Short, moderately broad, black; the head and prothorax clothed with cinereous pubescence, the prothorax’’ 
with a median vitta and a triangular spot on either side of it blackish-brown-pubescent ; the elytra with 
a large oblong sublateral median patch, the suture, and the apex rather broadly, cinereous, the rest of the 
surface blackish-brown-pubescent ; the pygidium cinereous-pubescent, blackish-brown along the centre. 
Head very broad, the eyes reaching to the occiput; last joint of the maxillary palpi large, subsecuriform ; 
