40 PHTTOPHAGA. 



6. Monachus bicruciatus. 



Monachus bicruciatus, Suffr. Monogr. vii. p. 229 1 . 



Hab. Mexico 1 ; Guatemala, near the city (Salvin). 



A good many specimens of this large and curiously coloured species were found by 

 Mr. Salvin ; its size and opaque colour will make it easily recognizable. Suffrian did 

 not know the male -insect, of which I possess several : they are not distinguished from 

 the female by any greater gloss of their surface ; but the eyes are nearly contiguous, 

 and the hinder thighs extend quite to the end of the elytra, which is not the case in 

 the female. The specimens were taken by Mr. Salvin at an elevation of 5000 feet 

 above the sea. 



7. Monachus anaglypticus. 



Monachus anaglypticus, Suffr. Linn. Entom. vi. p. 214. 

 Hab. Mexico, Jalapa; British Honduras, Rio Hondo (Blancaneaux). 



Through the kindness of Dr. Peters of Berlin I am enabled to compare Suffrian's 

 type with the insect received from Honduras ; there is no doubt that the former, as 

 Suffrian suspected, is an immature specimen. The Honduras specimen is uniformly 

 black, with the exception of the first two or three joints of the antennae and parts 

 of the mouth ; in other respects it agrees with the type. Whether Suffrian's species 

 is a really distinct one from M. saponatus, Fabr., is somewhat doubtful ; and this can 

 only be decided by comparison of numerous specimens. The nearest allied species is 

 M. ater, Knoch, which Suffrian himself does not warrant as being really specifically 

 different from M. saponatus, Fabr. Yet he has described M. anaglypticus from a 

 single immature specimen, and points out that the differences between his species 

 and M. ater are extremely slight and few, while M. ater is probably identical with 

 M. saponatus. 



8. Monachus nigritulus. 



Monachus nigritulus, Bohem. Res. Eugen. p. 158 1 ; Sufir. Linn. Entom. xv. p. 86 2 . 



Hab. British Honduras, Belize (Blancaneaux) ; Guatemala, Duenas, and San Juan, 

 Vera Paz (Champion). — Brazil 1 2 . 



Although this species has only been recorded as inhabiting Brazil, where it is rather 

 common, I cannot distinguish the Central-American specimens sufficiently to refer them 

 to another species ; the only difference is a stronger punctuation of the elytra, visible more 

 or less distinctly towards the apex. The elytra are dark bluish black, shining ; and the 

 whole shape of the insect is broad at the base, but distinctly narrowed towards the 

 apex. It may possibly be another species, as the punctuation in M. nigritulus is rather 

 fine, diminishing posteriorly. 



