238 [October, 



before the base. E. maindroni llegimbart (1903). from Gengi, has 

 large metallic tubercles like E. buUatus. 



Spercheus gibhus, n. sp. 



Oblong-oval, very convex, shining-; dirty-lestaceons, the head, prothorax, 

 and elytra mottled with piceous, the apical joint of the maxillary palpi at the 

 tip and the apex of the terminal joint of each tarsus black. Head broad, sub- 

 triangular, rapidly, obliquely narrowed from the eyes forward, the raised 

 lateral margins subangulate, the clypeus also angularly raised on each side of 

 the central emargination ; tlie intra-ocular space foveate in the middle and 

 closely punctate, the anterior portion sparsely punctured. Protliorax very 

 short, much wider than the head, moderately explanate at the sides, the latter 

 rounded anteriorly and gradually converging and almost straight behind, the 

 anterior angles prominent, the hind angles suhrectangular ; closely punctate. 

 Elytra gibbous, evenly convex on the disc, broadly arcuato-explanate at the 

 sides below the base ; with closely packed somewhat regular rows of moderately 

 coarse punctures, the narrow interspaces smooth, neither costate nor tuber- 

 culate, the outer row of dorsal punctures separated from those along the 

 expanded margin by a rather broad polished space, the humeral callosities 

 prominent. Length 3|, breadth 2^\ mm. 



Hah. IxBiA, Sarda in Bengal {F. W. C). 



One s])ecimen, certainly d" , as shown bv the strongly biangulate 

 clypeus. Very like an insect ( d $ ) from Karachi in the Andrewes 

 collection labelled " Spercheus helli Kegimhart," a species not included 

 in Zaitsev's Catalogue of Hydrophilidae (1908) and of which I am 

 unable to find a published description*; differing from the latter in 

 having the head less explanate at the sides before the eyes (the head thus 

 appearing a little smaller) and distinctly foveate in the middle between 

 them, the prothorax relatively narrower, less rounded at the sides 

 posteriorly, and moi-e sparsely punctured on the disc, and the elytra also 

 a little narrower, with the margins broadly arcuato-explanate below the 

 base, the sculpture similar to that of 8. belli. In the British Museum 

 there are three examples ( J 5 ) of another small Sperclieus, labelled 

 as from "India" {ex coll. Bowring), apparently different from either 

 of the foregoing, the Museum also possessing very similar specimens 

 from Persia (one of which is labelled S. cerisiji Gruer. ?) and Meso- 

 potamia, as well as others of a smaller and narrower unnamed fonn from 

 the last-named country, and one from Siam. The type of *S^. cerisyi 

 was from Alexandria. My second son having left Bengal, there is no 

 immediate possibility of obtaining moi-e specimens of S. gibbus or of the 

 closely related S. hinodidns. The Indian habitat of the insect from the 

 Bowring collection requires confirmation, and it must be left unnamed 



" Two found Ijy A)luaud in E. Africa were described by Regimbart in Ann. Soc. Ent. Kr. 

 1906, pp. 271, 272. 



