1919.] 243 



Elytra oblong, abruptly narrowed behind, narrowly stiiatod, the striae im- 

 pressed witli fine oblong punctures, the interstices Hat on the disc, somewhat 

 convex towards the outer margin, the humeral callus 

 prominent. Beneath densely, minutely punctulate, with 

 coarser punctures intermixed ; mesosternum with a 

 compressed, laminiform, vertical process, which is 

 received in a narrow, deeply-cut groove between the 

 anterior coxae ; metasternum smoother in ^j^^^'iHowly 

 grooved down the middle posteriorly, narrowly, trian- 

 gularly produced in front between the intermediate 

 coxae, the process margined nnd nearly reaching tlie ^^«i/ei«s denticoniis. 

 hook-like termination of the mesosternal lamina; terminal ventral segment 

 hollowed in the middle posteriorly, more deeply in the specimens assumed to 

 be males. Length 3-3^, breadth I5-2 mm. 



Hah. India, W. Aliuora in Kumaon (II. G. C). 



Bred in great numbers from fungus in June 1917 and again in 

 June 1918. The species differs from Theca as defined and figured by 

 Mulsant and Key (Terediles, 1864) in the form of the antennal joints 

 4-7, and in the structure of the anterior portion of the metasternum 

 (the latter being emarginate in the middle in front in S. hyrrlioides, 

 instead of produced into a sliort narrow process between the coxae as in 

 S. denticorrds). The krger examples of the Indian insect with a 

 smoother metasternum and a shallower excavation on the terminal 

 ventral segment are assumed to be females. Schilsky (Kafer Europa's, 

 xxxvi, 1899), in his descriptions of numerous species of the present genus, 

 says that the eyes in some of them are larger in S ; but no sexual 

 differences in the antennae are mentioned by hiin, or by Mulsant and 

 Key or WoUaston. Pic's Catalogue of Anohiidae (1912) does not 

 include any species of Stagetus { = Theca), or of the allied genera 

 Eutheca and Xylotheca, from the Indian continent. Statjetomo)-phus 

 indicHs Pic (1914), from Mahe, must be a very different insect. The 

 name Theca Muls. and Key (1860) is preoccupied in Zoology, and Stagetus 

 Woll. (1861) is available for it. 



Xylophilus hulbifer, n. sp. 



S. Oblong, rather broad, moderately shining, finely sericeo-pubescent ; 

 obscure testaceous, the head and a broad transverse patch on each elytron (not 

 reaching the suture or outer margin) piceous, the legs, palpi, and antennae 

 testaceous ; the head and prothorax rather sparsely, minutely, the elytra closely 

 and much more distinctly, punctate. Head transverse, broader than the 

 prothorax, well developed behind the eyes, the post-ocular portions gradually 

 converging and subangulate as seen from above ; eyes moderately large ; 

 antennae long, slender, joint 2 short, about half the length of 3, 3-10 filiform 

 [11 wanting]. Prothorux about as lonu: as broad, subquadrate, hollowed at 

 the sides behind the middle (appearing subangulariy dilated anteriorly, as seen 



y2 



