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



closely and distinctly punctate, most deeply in front, and with 

 a shallow frontal depression ; clothed with a yellowish pubes- 

 cence. Thorax transverse, subdepressed, narrowest in front; 

 the posterior angles meeting, and as broad (or nearly so) as the 

 base of the elytra, the lateral margins with a slight appearance 

 of inflexion just before the posterior angles ; the anterior angles 

 rounded ; the posterior angles somewhat acute ; posterior margin 

 broadly sinuate towards the sides ; shagreen-punctured, clothed 

 with a yellowish pubescence. Elytra 2^ times as long as the 

 thorax, ferruginous-red; shoulders prominent, and tapering 

 from them towards the apex ; turned rapidly in at the apex, so 

 as to make it appear almost slightly truncate; a depression 

 surrounds the scutellum (which is large and triangular) and 

 extends along on each side of the suture for more than half 

 the length of the elytra, the back of each elytron rising in a 

 somewhat humped manner from the depression ; there is a 

 deep sutural line running up the middle of this depression ; it 

 touches the suture at the apex, expands as it goes along, and 

 contracts almost to the suture again when it reaches the scu- 

 tellum ; the elytra are tolerably distinctly striated, the strise 

 deepest at the apex; shagreen -punctured, and clothed with a 

 close testaceous yellow pubescence. Legs and under side of same 

 colour as upper side, but rather paler, clothed with a similar 

 pubescence. 



At first sight this species is very \{k^ fuscus, many specimens 

 of which have the same depression on the back of the elytra ; 

 but it is distinguished at once by the different form of the 

 posterior part of the thorax, which in fuscus turns in to meet 

 the base of the elytra, while in this species it does not. The 

 joints of the antennse are also somewhat different in their pro- 

 portions, and the elytra taper more rapidly to the apex, and 

 the apex itself at its extremity has a tendency to become semi- 

 truncate for a short space, while in fuscus the apex is rounded 

 off to the suture. There is, however, no doubt that this is 

 very much akin to fuscus, and, in a strictly natural arrange- 

 ment, should come next to it ; but no arrangement will provide 

 for all the aberrant forms which occur, and an occasional sepa- 

 ration of nearly allied species must be submitted to, for the 

 sake of the greater facility of determination afforded by artificial 

 divisions. 



The above description is taken from a single female spe- 

 cimen which I found in M. Chevrolat's collection, and which, 

 although unique, he has kindly ceded to me. It stood among 

 his European species, but the exact locality was not men- 

 tioned. 



