07() [Deceinbev, 



NOTE ON PAROMALVS LUBERTI, Mars., AND DESCRIPTION OF A 

 EEMARKABLE SPECIES OF THE GENUS FROM SUMATRA. 



BY G. LEWIS, r.L.S. 



I found at Gibraltar last spring a Paromalus in fair abundance 

 in the rotting trunks of an Opuntia, which were stacked one over 

 another in the rubbish department of the public gardens. These 

 specimens agree precisely with examples of P. Luherti, Mars., which I 

 have from Mexico, so it seems highly probable that the species has 

 been introduced into Europe with the prickly pear. This probability 

 is also strengthened by the fact that the species has a sutural stria, a 

 character otherwise peculiar to American Paromali. Marseul received 

 this insect from Western Spain in 1864, and described it as P. Schau- 

 fussi, and said that the tubercular surface of the pygidium was wider 

 and the tubercles smaller and closer together than those of P. Luherti. 

 But Marseul only knew one sex, and possibly only saw one or two 

 specimens. I have a larger series, and under the microscope I can see 

 no differences in the American specimens ; the punctuation above and 

 below is similar, and also the sculpture of the mesosternal plate. 

 Some years since I found the insect at Oran. 



Paromalus tuberosus, sp. n. 



Ellipticus, convexus, niger, nitidus, supra punctulatus ; maris propygidio 

 in medio hituberculato, segmento ventrali primo posteriore obtuse sed conspicue 

 acuminato ; femince propygidio pygidioque Icevibus. Long., 41— 4f mill. 



Elliptical, convex, black, shining; the head clearly, not densely, punctulate, lateral 

 stria fine and abbreviated anteriorly ; the thorax transverse, arched at the sides, 

 marginal stria complete, with a semicircular depression before the scutellum (this 

 depression is much wider than those of P. mus and musculus, Mars., which are not 

 correctly speaking semicircular), punctulate, lateral punctures very fine ; the elytra, 

 subhumeral stria fine and complete, punctuation finest in the dorsal region ; the 

 propygidium, transverse and impunctate, g with two conspicuous tubercles nearer 

 the apex than the base and not far from each other ; the pygidium, g with deep and 

 irregular vermicular sculpture, varying much in different specimens, sometimes only 

 showing at the sides, sometimes covering the disc, ? smooth ; the prosternum, bi- 

 striate, strise joined anteriorly ; the niesosternum, marginal stria interrupted behind 

 the prosternal keel ; the first segment of the abdomen in (J is conspicuously acuminate 

 in the middle of the posterior edge ; the tibiae, anterior pair dilated with four or 

 five apical teeth. 



Hab. : Sumatra. 



This curious species belongs to the same section of the genus as 

 P. victor, mus and musculus, Mars. ; species found under stones in the 

 forests of Eastern Asia. 



Southampton : October 20th, 1896. 



