ALLOCHEOMA.— CEEICHEESTUS. 445 



transverse, rather flattened ; antenna thickened at the terminal joints, the five basal joints testaceous, the 

 five following ones black, the apical joint fulvous, the third joint long and slender; thorax nearly three 

 times as broad as long, the sides straight, the surface v«ry remotely punctured, obscure testaceous, with 

 two large blackish spots near the base and a smaller one near the anterior margin ; elytra widened 

 towards the middle, strongly and rather closely punctate-striate, the interstices obsoletely, longitudinally 

 costate near the sides, eaeh elytron with a black spot at the shoulders, one close to the scutellum, two 

 others placed obliquely a little lower down and in a line with the basal spots, a transverse larger spot at 

 the middle, and another near the apex ; underside testaceous, the legs a little darker ; posterior tibiae 

 armed with a double spur ; the inner margin of the elytral epipleurse at the posterior portion black. 



Had. Guatemala, Zapote (Champion). 



CERICHRESTUS. 



Cerichrestus, Clark, Cat. of Halticidse, p. 194 (1860). 



Ten species, all from Tropical South America, were placed in this genus by Clark. 

 These agree in having the upper surface densely pubescent, the antennae often dilated 

 at their intermediate joints, incrassate palpi, and a double spur at the apices of the 

 posterior tibia?. The only Central American species known to me has a rather peculiar 

 facies on account of the medially dilated antenna?, and the peculiar colour of the 

 pubescence, giving it somewhat the appearance of a species of the family Lycidae, of 

 the Malacodermata ; other species of Cerichrestus approach, however, very closely to 

 Allochroma, from which they can only be separated with difficulty, the structural 

 generic characters being almost identical. 



l. Cerichrestus clarki. (Tab. XXVI. fig. 3.) 



Oblong, slightly widened behind, black ; sides of the thorax, and of the elytra anteriorly, fulvous ; posterior 



tibiae and tarsi testaceous. 

 Var. a. Elytra fulvous, the suture and the posterior third black. 

 Var. b. Elytra entirely black. 



Length 2-3 lines. ,,,.,, - e j? 



Head black, the vertex finely rugose ; clypeus entirely flavous ; labrum black, with a transverse row of four 

 ' punctures ; antennae rather robust, longer in the male than in the female, black, the intermediate joints 

 slightly widened and nearly equal in length; thorax not more than one half broader than long the sides 

 straight, the angles acute and each furnished with a single hair, the surface opaque and scarcely visibly 

 punctured, the sides occupied by a longitudinal band of bright fulvous pubescence, the middle of the disc 

 black and with a more or less distinct smooth central ridge; scutellum black ; elytra opaque, regularly 

 punctate-striate, the interstices slightly convex, the sides from the shoulder to below the middle (in the 

 shape of a gradually attenuated margin) clothed with fulvous pubescence like the thorax; legs black the 

 underside of the anterior femora more or less testaceous, the posterior tibiae entirely of that colour, 

 the claw-joint blaekish. 

 Hob. Panama, Bugaba (Champion). 



Evidently very closely allied to C. balyi, Clark, from Brazil, but differing in the 

 colour of the head, and in that of the antennae, and in the want of a thoracic transverse 

 basal depression ; the narrow central thoracic ridge in C. clarki will further assist in 

 the recognition of the species. The varieties with either entirely or partially black 

 elytra prove that no great dependence can be placed on colour in these insects. 



