( s-' ) 



1. Eoctenes spasmae Watoili. (IsTy). 



A(/. — Rostro iiuadiiarticulato; cteuidio gnlari ad angnlos capitis us(jue exteiiso 

 prostenio angnsto precessu intercoxali tenui aenmiuato ; supra tribus ctenidiis ; 

 abdominis segmeutis 5° — 7° (?) vel 6° et ""((?) serie setarum longanim vestitis ; 

 nngiii minore tarsorura fpiatnor posticornm absque dente magiio basali. 



I'll.-. — Rostro et prosterno nt in niatnris specirainibns ; ctonidio giilari 

 abbreviate ; pronoto et elj'tris sine cteuidiis, illo ante aiedium latiore ijuaiu 

 post medium. 



Patria : Snmatra ; Nias ; Java. 



Polydenes xjmsinae Waterhouse, Trmm. Eiil. Snr. Loud. p. Mi. tab. ;i. fig. X .^o. 4 (1870) (Java, off 

 Me/jculenim njiaxinii, two specimens) ; Speiser, Ziwl. ./nlnh., Suppl. vii. p. 375 (19U4). 



Pohjctenex falpa Speiser. Znol. Aiizriy. p. 613. te.\t-fig. (IH9K) (Nias, off .Mrc/adirma xpuxma three 

 specimens) : id.. Z„„l. .J„hib., Suppl. vii. p. 37G. tab. 20. fig. 3. 4 (19(14) ; id.. Rec. Iml. .Uns. 

 iii. p. 272 (1909) (Trivandrum, off C>/iioj)lerif.i margitialns, one nj'mph). 



Si/iicroliis talpa Speis., Horvath, Ami. J/«.«. Xat. Hung. viii. p. 573 (1910). 



The British Mnsenm contains two specimens of spasmae from Java and two 

 Snmatran examples (c??) of talpa. The former are immature, and differ so 

 remarkabl}' from talpa that the author of the latter was perfectly justified at 

 the time in lielieving talpa to be distinct from spasmae. However, a comparison 

 of the two forms revealed to as so many points of agreement that the discrepancies 

 dwindled down to distinctions which were no greater than those between the 

 mature and immature P. molossus. Any doubts, however, we might still have 

 entertained about the specific identity of spasmae and talpa were set at rest 

 by the description given by Dr. Speiser of a nymph from South India which 

 was devoid of combs on the pronotnm and elytra, but exhibited these combs 

 under the sldu on the newly forming imago. Although this Indian specimen 

 may not actually be the same species as .spasmae, or may be a different geographical 

 race approaching intermedius from Egypt, so much is certain, tliat it effaces the 

 main difference between the immature spasmae and adult talpa. 



Our adult ? of spa.wiae (= talpa) contains two embryos, in one of which 

 the dorsal comb of the head k already developed, no other combs being 

 distinguishable. 



Adult specimens. — The figures given by Speiser, I.e., and which represent 

 a ?, are good, giving sufficient and correct detail for the recognition of the 

 species. Only the posterior margin of the pronotnm and elytra are not curved 

 enough in the figures, the lateral angles of the elytra particularly being far 

 too distinct. The shading of the figure, moreover, gives the pronotum and elytra 

 the appearance of being convex in the centre, while in our specimens the central 

 dei)ression on the upper side of the head is extended over the ])rouotum, and 

 the sutural slit of the elytra is continued to the base by a distinct median groove. 



The clipens is longer than in PoUjctenes molossus, and its posterior central 

 excision narrower and less evenly rounded. The ventral fans are very prominent 

 and the lateral tubercles rather strongly elevate. The second segment of tlie 

 rostrum is as long as, but distinctly wider than the third, the fourth being widest 

 about the centre and somewhat shorter than the second and third together. 

 The gular comb extends close to the basal angles of the head, and between it 

 and the first antennal segment there is a row of three or four short, stumpy 

 spines. 



