310 Coleopterological Notices. 



behind, the posterior oval, rapidly attenuate laterally and scarcely attaining 

 the rnetasternal episterna which are rather wide. Abdomen composed of live 

 segments which are free or very nearly so, separated by very coarse, deeply 

 imi)ressed and straight sutures ; basal segment nearly as long as the next 

 three together. Legs short, moderately robust ; tibiie slender, the spurs not 

 <lisliiu't ; tarsi slender, tetramerons ; joints of the posterior all elongate, the 

 fourth much shorter than the first three combined. 



On comparing these characters with the corresponding ones of 

 Ivhn'godora and Anchomma, it is readily seen that the antennaj 

 differ radically, for, besides being of a usual type and not in the 

 least perfoliate, they have the last joint wide, while in the genera 

 mentioned the last joint is small, exactly as in the Asidini of the 

 Tcncbriouidaj ; in this connection attention is called to the small 

 terminal joint in Nartheciiis. Mcgataphrus further differs from the 

 Kliagoderini in having antennal fossfe at the sides of the head and 

 prosternum not only present, but developed to an extraordinary 

 degree, and in the elongate basal segment of the abdomen ; it how- 

 ever resembles the tribe mentioned in having the antennae inserted 

 at a great distance from the eyes, which in the present instance are 

 all l)ut obsolete, and in the structure of the anterior coxse, acetabula 

 and prosternal process, also in its roughly scabrous appearance. 

 There seems to be no course left, therefore, but to consider it the 

 representative of a distinct synthetic tribe. ^ 



M. leilllicoi'uis n. sp. — Oblong, ratlier robust, parallel, strongly, un- 

 evenly convex, piceous-black, dull and roughly scabrous. Head moderate, 

 wider than long, very coarsely punctato-tuberculose, the sides tumid over the 

 antennse, the occiput with a small median fovea. I^-othorax anteriorly some- 

 what as in Coxelus, about one-fourth wider than long ; base and apex equal, 

 the latter truncate between the large and greatly advanced apical angles, 

 ■which are rather acute and not rounded ; base pedunculate, the peduncle 

 short, three-fifths as wide as the disk, transversely truncate ; sides parallel, 

 evenly and distinctly arcuate, minutely but strongly serrate, the teeth tri- 



1 The European genus Tarphius, which appears to approach Megataphrus 

 in some respects, diflfers in its broader form of body with non-pedunculated 

 pronotum, in its well-developed eyes which are more approximate to the point 

 of antennal insertion, and in the very short basal joint of tlie tarsi ; in Mega- 

 taphrus the hind tarsi are slender, the basal joint being subequal in length 

 to the next two together. In Tarphius, which is considered a member of the 

 Synchitini, the antennal grooves are, according to Wollaston, not really exca- 

 vations, but more feeble impressions. It cannot be denied, however, that the 

 tribe Megataphrini is also closely allied to the Synchitini, of which it might 

 perhaps with almost equal plausibility form a group. 



