.EGITHTJS. 85 



.EGITHUS. 



Mgithus, Fabricius, Syst. Eleuth. ii. p. 9 (1801); Lacordaire, Monogr. Erotyl. p. 276 (1842); 

 Chapuis, Gen. Col. xii. p. 55 (1876). 



A Tropical- American genus of more than forty species, which are distinguished 

 generally by their nearly hemispherical form, and red or yellow colour, rarely spotted 

 elytra, but frequently black head, thorax, or body. As might be expected, JEgithus is 

 more numerous in species south of the Isthmus of Panama. 



A. Elytra smooth, not striate. 



l. Mgithus melaspis. (Tab. IV. fig. 22.) 



Coccimorphus melaspis, Chevr. (Salle coll.) ined. 



Late ovatus, saturate rufus, supra opacus subtus nitescens ; antennis (articulis duobus primis exceptis), tibiis, 



tarsis et scutello nigris. Long. 10-12 millim. 

 Mas segmento ventrali primo puncto minute setigero. 



Hob. Mexico (Salle, ex coll. Sturm), Presidio (Forrer), Orizaba, Tehuantepec (Salle), 

 Chilpancingo in Guerrero (Hoge) ; Guatemala, San Geronimo (Champion) ; Nicaragua, 

 Chontales (Janson). 



This species is more elongate and less convex than any other of the genus known to 

 me, and hence has more the appearance of a Coccimorphus. It is elongate-ovate in 

 shape, acuminate before and behind, moderately convex, of a uniform dull brick-red 

 colour, smooth, and a little shining beneath, and without punctuation, excepting only 

 that the epistome has a few very small indistinct points. The antennae are black, with 

 two joints at the base red, their third joint elongate ; the club is composed of four 

 joints, and is rather narrow, the eighth, or first club-joint, not so long as the ninth, and 

 this one longer than the two succeeding it. The margin of the antennal socket bears 

 a single puncture (present also in Coccimorphus dichrous and some other JEgithi) ; the 

 tips of the mandibles are black. The scutellum, tips of the femora, tibia?, and tarsi 

 are black. There are no metasternal nor abdominal lines. Prosternum even, rather 

 raised in the middle, but not compressed, nor acuminate in front. The punctiform 

 setigerous dot on the middle of the first ventral segment in the male is a character 

 unusual in this genus, but occurs in Erotylus, and rarely in other genera (as we have 

 seen in Mycotretus) ; and what is more noteworthy still is that there is a similar but 

 less conspicuous dot on the middle of the prosternal process in this species. We have 

 received a large series of this insect. It was found abundantly by Mr. Champion at 

 San Geronimo. There is one specimen unnamed in the Cambridge collection. 



I have retained the name with which it is labelled in Salle's collection. 



