584 RHYNCHOPHORA. 
METRIOPHILUS. 
Metriophilus, Faust, Stett. ent. Zeit. 1896, pp. 51, 62. 
Faust included six species from Venezuela in this genus (the types of all of which I 
have seen *), and numerous others are now added from Central America, including 
Cryptorhynchus definitus, Ros. They agree in the following characters :-— 
Rostrum strongly curved, sometimes gibbous at the base, reaching to about the middle of the intermediate 
coxw ; eyes large, somewhat depressed, placed low down at the sides of the head, and covered in repose 
by the prominent ocular lobes of the prothorax ; scutellum small; elytra wider than the prothorax, with 
the tenth row of punctures abbreviated, and the interstices flat or convex, at most subcostate towards 
the sides ; metathoracic episterna broad; legs usually short, similar in the two sexes; femora unidentate, 
the tooth on the anterior pair longer than that on the intermediate and posterior pairs; tibie feebly 
carinate ; tarsal claws simple; ventral-segment 2 considerably longer than 3, 1 and 2 connate at the 
middle in M. definitus and M. nigrotermenatus. 
Metriophilus is nearly related to Zascelis. The species may be grouped thus :— 
a. Prothorax and elytra with rather scattered ochreous, fulvous, or brownish 
vestiture, which is sometimes fasciculate on the elytra. - . + + + + Species 1-6. 
b. Prothorax with scattered, and the elytra with denser, fulvous or brownish 
vestiture, sometimes with blackish or whitish scales intermixed. 
a’, Elytra without an apical black patch «©. ee + + ee te tts Species 7, 8. 
b!. Elytra with an apical black patch . Species 9, 10. 
c. Prothorax (except in M. cribricollis) and elytra more or less distinctly mottled 
or reticulated with black setiform scales, the surface opaque . . . . . Species 11-16. 
1. Metriophilus fugax, sp.n. (Tab. XXVIII. figg. 29, 294, 6, ¢; 30, fifth 
ventral segment, @ .) 
Oblong-ovate, shining, black or piceous, the antenne ferruginous ; the prothorax, legs, and under surface 
sparsely clothed with narrow, setiform, ochreous or fulvous scales, the elytra more densely clothed with 
intermixed fulvous (or ochreous) and brown scales, the light-coloured scales rather coarse and sub- 
fasciculate ; the upper surface also thickly set with semierect sete, which are seriately arranged down 
each of the elytral interstices. Head rugulosely punctate, flattened and subcarinate in front, the eyes 
laterally placed; rostrum strongly curved, stout, a little longer than the prothorax, rugosely punctate 
and feebly tricarinate in its basal half, sparsely punctate at the tip, that of the 2 rather longer and 
smoother, the antenne inserted at about the middle in the 9, and nearer the tip in the ¢, joints 1 and 2 
of the funiculus subequal in length, the club ovate. Prothorax transverse, narrowed and slightly 
constricted in front; coarsely, confluently punctate. Scutellum narrow. Elytra about one-half wider 
than the protharax, subparallel at the base; with rows of rather coarse subquadrate punctures, the 
interstices narrow, rugulose or punctulate, and sometimes feebly granulate, almost flat on the disc, 
subcostate or convex at the sides, the suture cariniform. Beneath sparsely, coarsely punctate. Fifth 
ventral segment of the ¢ more or less distinctly foveate, and the fovea usually bordered posteriorly by a 
smooth semicircular ridge; that of the Q with a smooth callus in the middle at the apex. Legs short; 
anterior femora sharply, the others more feebly, dentate. 
Length 43-54, breadth 2-23 millim. (d 2.) 
Hab. Muxico, San Andres Tuxtla, Toxpam (Sallé); GuaTeMALa, Senahu, Chiacam, 
Panima, Panzos, El Reposo, Cerro Zunil (Champion) ; Nicaracua, Chontales (Janson) ; 
Panama, Bugaba, Volcan de Chiriqui (Champion). 
* M. discretus, Faust, is very like some of the forms here placed under T'yrannion. 
