14 Mr. A. Murray^s Monograph of the genus Catops. 



3. The thighs are simple, and the trochanters lengthened, 

 formed like a gouge-chisel, convex outwards, concave inwards, 

 but with the edge turned inwards at the point. 



4. Both thighs and trochanters simple. 



It will be seen from the above that I consider this a variable 

 species, and that the variations I have above indicated are nothing 

 more than different forms of the same species. Erichson was of 

 the same opinion, for it was he who first observed and recorded 

 the variations in the form of the trochanters of the hind legs, 

 and in noticing them he remarks — " Of the males I have the 

 following variations before me. These, one cannot with propriety 

 refer to different species, when in all other respects the perfect 

 examples agree. ^' Other authors however have come to a dif- 

 ferent opinion, and have made distinct species of these different 

 varieties, and as these authors are of high standing and their 

 species have been very generally adopted, it will be right, I think, 

 to give a copy of their descriptions, so that the reader may have 

 before him the means of judging for himself. ;'i 



I shall therefore quote the descriptions of them given by 

 Kraatz, as being both the most recent and the most ample ; but, 

 in accordance with my own opinion, I shall rank them here only 

 as varieties. 



Var. C angustatuSf Kraatz. " ^^^^J 



Catops angustatus, Kraatz, Stett. Ent. Zeit. xiii. 401. 



" Oblongus, piceus; t]ior ace minus dense et subtiliter punctata, ante 

 medium latiore, angulis posticis obtusiusculis, marginibus et 

 angulis posticis dilutioribus ; elytris substriatis, rufo-ferru- 

 gineis, versus suturam postice interdum infuscatis. 



" Long. 2i lin. 



" Mas, trochanteribus posticis plerumque scalpiformibus. 

 *' Foem. ? elytris apice acuminatis. 



" The longest and narrowest species in this group. The an- 

 tennae are very slender, longer than the half of the body, always 

 entirely of a clear ferruginous colour. First joint somewhat 

 stronger and as long as the second ; third nearly twice as long as 

 the joints on each side of it (second and fourth) ; eighth only a 

 little shorter than the seventh and ninth, which are equal in 

 length ; the last joint longer than the preceding, long, cylindrical, 

 and acuminate. The head is blackish brown ; the parts of the 

 mouth ferruginous, abundantly and finely punctate. The thorax 

 is a little broader than long, gently rounded at the sides, broadest 

 before the middle, gradually narrowed towards the base, the pos- 

 terior angles more or less feebly obtuse-angled ; the basal mar- 

 gins are depressed for a moderate breadth, and somewhat bent 



