BY THE REV. T. BLACKBURN. 497 



A rather wide depressed species, at its widest slightly behind 

 the middle of the elytra. The puncturation of the head is closer 

 than in any of the commoner species known to me of the genus 

 (e.g., nervosa, Boisd., verna, Hope) ; that of the prothorax is, in 

 the male a little in the female much, less close and strong than 

 in the corresponding sex of M. verna ; the elytra are punctulate- 

 striate almost as in M. azureipennis, Macl., (more distinctly than 

 is usual in the genus), but the alternate interstices are markedly 

 more convex in their hinder half than in that species ; the sides 

 of the prothorax are only very slightly arched (evidently less 

 than in M. verna, Hope). On the underside the anteriorly 

 declivous prosternum furnishes a distinction from many species 

 of the genus, and the puncturation is unusually feeble throughout 

 (much more so, e.g., than in M. nervosa, Boisd.). Compared with 

 the puncturation of the undersurface of M. verna, Hope (in the 

 less closely-punctured sex, — male I think), that of the present 

 species differs (besides being in all parts evidently less strong) on 

 the prosternum in being very evenly distributed in the middle 

 portion (not becoming coarser and rougher towards the front 

 margin) and on the ventral segments in being almost evenly 

 distributed, whereas in verna it becomes extremely sparse towards 

 the middle line, especially on the intermediate segments. 



In my example (which I take to be a male) the apical ventral 

 segment has the subapical spine on either side very sharp and 

 well developed, though much smaller than the apical spines ; the 

 apex of the segment is a kind of flat coriaceous plate, this plate 

 being deeply and semicircularly emarginate quite through its 

 substance {I.e., the inner surface of the substance does not, — or 

 scarcely, — project beyond the outer surface of the same), so that 

 the margins of the emargination run out on either side in a strong 

 free spine and the internal organs or the under surface of the 

 substance of the dorsal segment is visible through the cavity of 

 the emargination. In the corresponding sex of M. verna the 

 inner surface of the substance of the ventral segment projects far 

 beyond the outer surface, so that the emargination does not go 

 through the substance, and the lateral spines (which also are 



