318 Mr. A. Murray on Coleoptera from Old Calabar, 



in the same way throughout the group, it would be much simpli- 

 fied. We should then throw Agonocheila, Stenoglossa and Copto- 

 dera together, characterized as Coptodera with a middle tooth to 

 the mentum, and Nycteis and Belonognatha together as Coptodera 

 without a middle tooth, — the former almost exclusively inha- 

 biting South America, the latter exclusively Africa (reckoning 

 Madagascar as part of Africa). Indeed, I am strongly inclined 

 to believe that the mistake I have already referred to as having 

 been committed in the genus Lebia, of confounding the central 

 base of the ligula with the middle tooth of the mentum, has 

 been repeated here ; and that if these parts were more carefully 

 examined, it would be found that the species having a true tooth 

 to the mentum are confined to America, while those without the 

 tooth are restricted to the Old World. I do not think that the 

 structure of these parts has been sufficiently minutely attended 

 to by those authors who have described species of Coptodera as 

 inhabiting the East Indies and Africa. There are six species 

 described from each, and if these are analysed, there seems very 

 insufficient evidence for holding that they are furnished with a 

 tooth to the mentum. Of the six Eastern species, one is de- 

 scribed by Dejean, four by Schmidt-Goebel, and one by Hope. 

 As to Dejean's species (C. gilvipes), we may put it out of view, 

 because he takes no notice of the mentum, and he himself says, 

 " Je ne suis pas bieli certain que cette espece appartienne k ce 

 genre.^' Of Schmidt-GoebeFs species I have only had the op- 

 portunity of examining one [C.fleocuosa), and I find that it most 

 certainly has no tooth to the mentum ; and if this mistake has 

 happened to one of his species, it is none the less likely to have 

 been repeated in the others. I have also examined Hope^s C. 

 bicincta, and there the same mistake or oversight has occurred. 

 The so-called six African species are described, one by Dejean, 

 four by Boheman, and one by Chaudoir. As Dejean habitually 

 disregards the form of the mentum, his placing his species (C. 

 crucifera) in the genus Coptodera goes for nothing, either one 

 way or the other. As to Prof. Boheman, he says nothing 

 about the mentum either ; and he may either have overlooked it 

 altogether, or fallen into the same error as Schmidt-Goebel and 

 Hope. I have not seen any of his species, but the system of 

 coloration and general description shows a great resemblance to 

 my Old Calabar species, Nycteis Championi and Belonognatha 

 rugiceps. There only remains ihe figurata of Chaudoir, and 

 although it is not likely that he has overlooked the mentum 

 (as he was fully alive to its importance), still it is not impossible 

 that he may have fallen into the error regarding it of which I 

 have been speaking. In my specimens of Nycteis from Old 

 Calabar, the central base of the ligula between the roots of the 



