172 PHYTOPHAGA. 



distinction in this species, of which a spotted specimen from Silao is figured ; others are 

 entirely light fulvous, but agree in all other respects. 



6. Metachroma guatemalensis. 



Ovate, entirely light fulvous; thorax extremely finely punctured; elytra with a deep but short basal depres- 

 sion, the latter punctate-striate, rest of the elytra impunctate. 



Length 2 lines. 



Head impunctate ; clypeus triangular and distinctly separated from the face, its surface finely punctured ; 

 antennae less than half the length of the body, piceous, the three basal joints testaceous ; thorax trans- 

 verse, its sides much rounded and produced before the middle, from there to the base obliquely cut ; surface 

 closely covered with very fine punctures ; elytra almost entirely impunctate, with only a few punctures 

 within the depression, which is placed more towards the lateral margin than in M. mexicana. Underside 

 and legs entirely fulvous ; prosternum rugose-punctate. 



Hah. Guatemala, Cahabon (Champion). 



Although closely allied to the preceding species, the present one shows sufficient 

 distinctive characters to justify its separation. The punctuation and shape of the 

 thorax, as well as that of the clypeus, are quite distinct from those of M. mexicana. 



EUMOLPUS. 



Eumolpus, Weber, Obs. Ent. 1801, i. p. 28. 



The large and handsome species comprised in this genus seem to be more subject 

 to variation as to size, sculpturing, and colour than any other genus of the present 

 family ; and, except in one or two instances, the determination of the species, in 

 spite of a monograph by Mr. Baly published in 1877, is an almost hopeless task. 

 That author has often taken as a guide the telum or male organ, the characters of the 

 females, which seem to be the commoner of the sexes, being still obscure and unsatis- 

 factory ; while an examination of Mr. Baly's types seems to show that not too much 

 reliance can be placed on the shape of the penis, which I think will sometimes be 

 found to vary like other parts. It seems, however, that only two species are at present 

 known to inhabit Central America ; and the determination of these two, at all events, 

 is not difficult, since their antennae are totally different. Chapuis, in his ' Genera des 

 Coleopteres,' errs when he includes Eumolpus in his first section, or those Eumolpidae 

 which have the anterior thoracic episternum concave ; in the genus Eumolpus this 

 margin is more or less distinctly convex towards the middle. 



1. Eumolpus surinamensis. (Tab. IX. figg. 14, 16.) 



JBumolpus surinamensis, Eabr. Syst. Ent. p. 96 x ; Oliv. Ent. vi. p. 898 2 ; Baly, Trans. Ent. Soc. 1877, 

 i. p. 49 3 . 



Elongate-ovate, narrowed behind, dark green or violaceous blue ; head with a fine central longitudinal groove, 

 rather closely and finely punctured ; clypeus separated from the face by a fine transverse groove, and 

 laterally by an oblique finely impressed line at each side ; antennae black, the first six joints metallic blue 

 or green, third joint a little longer than the fourth, the last five joints dilated and compressed; thorax 



