478 Zoological Society : — 



eagerness to secure it, my hand was so much lacerated that I was 

 obhged to reUnquish my prize, and we saw its gorgeous colours 

 flashing beneath the full blaze of a tropical sun ; it settled on the 

 stem of a cedar, and was then more cautiously transferred into my 

 possession." 



With these few remarks, which might be much amplified, a curious 

 genus of Prionidee, allied to Psalidoffnathus, G. R. Gray, and to 

 PrionacaluSy figured in a previous part of the Proceedings, may be 

 here briefly described. It is strictly pseudo-tetramerous, and has 

 much of the character of Mr. George Gray's fine Columbian genus. 

 This genus, for which I would propose the name Psalidocoptus^y is 

 from Tana, in the New Hebrides, and is one of those fine insects for 

 which science is indebted to the researches of Mr. John Macgillivray, 

 the late able Naturalist of H.M. surveying ship * Herald.* The 

 sternum does not notably difl'er from that of PsalidognathuSy but it 

 diff^ers in having very short palpi, much shorter antennae, the third joint 

 the longest, the eight following about equal in length. Head, exclu- 

 sive of the jaws, rather longer than wide, behind the eyes somewhat 

 narrowed and without projection. Eyes prominent, transversely 

 kidney-shaped, very slightly notched in front. Thorax wider than 

 long, but much longer than in Psalidognathus and PrionacaluSy with 

 three broadish spine-like projections on each side, one in front, one 

 about the middle, and one before the hinder angle. Scutellum small 

 and wide, covering the abdomen ; in the male, considerably sur- 

 passing it. Wingless ; elytra united on the suture, contracted some- 

 what at the base, where there is a short spine, gradually dilated 

 about the middle, and as gradually tapering toward the end, where 

 they terminate in two spine-like points, the outer the longest, the 

 inner almost a continuation of the notch, between which would be the 

 suture ; the two points curiously rotundate-emarginate. Legs very 

 long and strong, particularly the femora, which are compressed. 

 Tarsi with small pulvillus on end of three first joints ; tarsi of female 

 broader and shorter than those of the male. 



PSALIDOCOPTUS SCABER, n. S. 



Head between the eyes with a deep line, divided into two in front. 

 Thorax surface curiously undulated, and with the head scarcely 

 rough, although with small scattered warts; the elytra scabrous, 

 with numerous small warts ; each elytron with two parallel ridges 

 united behind the middle and a sutural ridge ; margin of elytra 

 between warty and serrated. Jaws strong, punctured at the base, 

 incurved, sides parallel, inner side short and obliquely cut between, 

 the cutting edge sharp ; a curious tuft of ferruginous hair on tro- 

 chanter; legs serrated below on femora and tibia, more or less 

 scabrous. The whole insect is of a blackish-brown, with ferruginous 

 hairs bordering the inside of the tibiae of the first and second pairs of 

 legs ; thorax beneath, and other parts, liable to be chafed by motion 



* ^aXjs, scissors, and KroTrrw, from a fanciful idea of the waved outline being 

 as it were cut with that instrument. 



