1878] 119 



CHAEACTEES OF NEW GENEEA AND DESCEIPTIONS OF NEW 

 SPECIES OF QEODEPHAOA FEOM THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 



BY THE EEV. T. BLACKBUEN, B.A. 

 II. 



In resuming the subject commenced by me in this Magazine (vol. 

 xiv, p. 142), I propose to furnish descriptions of the Hawaiian Geode- 

 phaga added to my collection during the interval, as vrell as of several 

 previous captures that I have only recently been able to determine. 

 The number of species is twenty-five ; of which nine occurred on this 

 island, the remaining sixteen on the great extinct volcano Haleakala 

 (on the island of Maui). These latter were all collected upwards of 

 4000 feet above the sea, during four days in February, 1878. The 

 altitude of Haleakala (10,000 feet) is much greater than that of the 

 Oahu mountains, to which fact I attribute the considerable number of 

 novelties among the insects I found on the former ; for, during a week 

 spent in other parts of Maui (similar in character to this island), I did 

 not observe any new Geodephaga, and only two or three new Coleoptera. 

 On Maui, as here, Anclwmenus seems to be the prevalent Geodephagous 

 type ; all the Geodepliaga I observed there (save one) belonging to 

 that group. 



The principal difficulty I have experienced in dealing with the 

 following species, is their generic apportionment. Reluctant as I am 

 to constitute new genera in groups where generic limits are already 

 puzzling, I am obliged to do so in two instances. There are several 

 species, moreover, of those which I have attributed to previously ex- 

 isting genera, which (it is my strong conviction) must be otherwise 

 treated eventuallj^ ; and on these a few comments seem desirable. 



The last two species described under the name Anchomenus 

 (SJiarpi and rupicola) are remarkable insects. They differ from all 

 Anchomeni known to me in the following points, viz. : the great de- 

 velopment of the hind-body (head and thorax together making up less 

 than one-third of total length), and the form of the mesothoracic 

 epimera (which, instead of being very narrow and parallel according 

 to the habit of Anclwmenus, are triangular, almost as in SemMdium ; 

 indeed, barring form of palpi and tarsi, and shape of prothorax, A. 

 Sliarpi is extremely similar in build to B. eques, Sturm, with, however, 

 the relative length of elytra not a little exaggerated). The latter of 

 these two characters reads like something tangible ; but Dr. Sharp 

 informs me that he has observed a tendency to variation in the shape 

 and development of these epimera among species accepted as Anclw- 

 meni. These two species (Sharpi and ri/picola) are pretty closely 

 allied to each other, and I think are both near to A. mgsticus, mihi, 

 and Dyscolus Tantalus, mihi (the latter of which, some slight tarsal 



