COLEOPTERA 



109 



(16) Plagiihniysus pcTkinsi Sharp. 



Plagithinysits perkinsi Sharp, t. c. p. 244. 

 (Plate VI. fig. 15 ; %.) 



Hab. Hawaii; Mauna Loa, in two localities, June and July. On Myopontm, 

 or bastard sandal tree. 



(17) Plagitlunysus v avians Sharp. 



Plagithmysus varians Sharp, /. c. p. 245 (excl. var. y). 



Hab. Hawaii ; Mauna Loa, Kilauea ; Perkins. On Acacia koa. 



This has been found in greater plenty than any other species and I have been 

 able to examine about 200 individuals. The variation in the colour of the legs is of 

 considerable interest. The extreme base of the femora being always yellow, the other 

 parts vary. It may be said that the normal colour of the rest of the femur is black, 

 but there are many specimens in which the apical third is bright red : all the inter- 

 mediates between this state and the black form occur. The black and the red colours 

 are not sharply delimited in these cases. There are two or three specimens in 

 which the black colour is nearly entirely absent. And there is another, apparently very 

 rare, variety, of an opposite character, in which the black colour is absent from the 

 middle but present at the tips. There are only two or three examples of this variety 

 known ; and they resemble in this character P. laniarckianus rather than P. darwiiii- 

 anus. Though the black colour may be absent from either the tip or the middle it 

 is never completely absent from both, there being no individual with quite red legs, 

 though the black pigmentation is in a few cases but slight. In consequence of this 

 deficiency these individuals bear a resemblance to P. daTwinianus (in which species 

 the legs are red). But these specimens do not approach P. darwiniamis in other 

 respects. 



The former var. y of P. varians is now P. laniarckianus. 



(18) Plagithmysus darwinianus Sharp. 



Plagitlunysus darivinianjis Sharp, f. c. p. 271. 



(Plate VI. fig. 16 ; Z.) 



Hab. Hawaii; Kilauea, in August. On the "IMamane" tree Sophora chryso- 

 pliylla, Perkins. In this species the legs never become black, but in some individuals — 

 especially when the size is large — the red is somewhat darker, showing a very imperfect 

 condition of blackness, analogous with that exhibited on the apical part of the femur 



15—2 



