146 Mr. A. Murray's Monograph of the genus Catops. 



The head is not large ; black, finely and densely punctate, with a 

 yellowish-grey pubescence. The mouth is brownish. The an- 

 tennae are somewhat longer than the head and thorax, the first 

 six joints brownish red, slender, the remainder black, broader 

 than long, and thickened into a club towards the outer side ; 

 the eighth joint much shorter and more slender than the rest, 

 the last somewhat more slender and about a half longer than 

 the preceding, with an obtuse point. The thorax is densely 

 wrinkled-punctate, and thickly clothed with close-lying yellowish 

 hairs, transverse, about a half broader than long, rounded on 

 the sides, broadest in the middle, narrower in front than behind, 

 the anterior angles obtuse, the posterior straight, the posterior 

 margin scarcely sinuated. The elytra are a little broader 

 than the thorax, somewhat bellied out in the middle, oblong 

 oval, usually attenuated to a point at the apex, densely and 

 finely punctate and transversely wrinkled, covered with a grey 

 pubescence and bluish hoar-frost, the sutural striae very distinct, 

 and in the middle of the elytra we perceive the trace of several 

 striae. Under side black, the thighs dark brown, the tibiae fer- 

 ruginous brown, the tarsi ferruginous yellow ; the first two seg- 

 ments of the abdomen are of a lively ferruginous red, the 

 remainder black, finely and densely punctate, delicately pubes- 

 cent. 



" Found in the Tyrol near Steinach and on the Franzenhohe, 

 4000-8000 feet above the level of the sea*.'' 



The reader will see that the above is a pretty accurate descrip- 

 tion of C. tristis, with the exception of the colour of the first two 

 segments of the abdomen. Colour is at all times a character of 

 very doubtful value in Coleoptera, and the constant symptom 

 of immaturity or of not fully developed colour is the substitution 

 for black of a ferruginous brown or red of greater or less inten- 

 sity, or over a greater or less extent. 



I have not seen specimens of this variety in nature, but 

 M. KraatZj who had authentic specimens through his hands, 

 states that it is a mere variety of tristis. 



Var. B. C, longulus, Kellner. 



Catops longulus, Kellner, Stett. Ent. Zeit. vii. 176 ; Redt, Fn. Aust. 771 ; 

 Kraatz, Stett. Ent. Zeit. xiii. 433. 17. 



Oblongus, niger; antennis obsolete clavatis, basi apiceque testa- 

 ceis ; thorace basi apiceque latitudine aequali, angulis posticis 

 rectis ; elytris obsoletissime striatis. 



Long. 2^ lin. 



According to M. Kellner's description this species is distiu- 

 * Rosenhauer in loc. cit. 



