1882,] . 137 



STNTJELIII)^ : A FAMILY TO INCLUDE SYNTELIA & SPH^HITES, 

 WITH A NOTE OF A NEW SPECIES OF THE FIRST GENUS. 



BT GEORGE LEWIS. 



During my recent tour in Japan, I continually met with a species 

 of SynteJia ; 1 took it first in the province of Tashiu, in June, 1880, 

 and in the autumn of the same year in South Hokkaido, and last 

 season I met with it in early spring on the banks of the Kumakawa, 

 in Higo, and in August in Sado. These places give the species a 

 range of over 800 miles of latitude. It hibernates under moist bark 

 with HoJolepta and other flat Histeridce, and in summer it comes to 

 exuding sap in company with Velleius, Selota, Cladognatlius, and 

 Mhomhorrliina. On small oaks of 6 or 8 inches diameter, where the 

 larvse of a large Eepialus were feeding in summer after the manner of 

 our Cossus, I have taken all these species together, and I was inclined 

 at the time, by its habits, to consider Syntelia to be an aberrant 

 Histerid. And there is no doubt that it is very closely allied to the 

 Jlisteridce, but the difiiculty of uniting it to that family arises from 

 the pi'oximity of the anterior coxae and the prominent mesosternum 

 which widely separates the anterior from the middle legs. Lately I 

 submitted for examination some specimens to Dr. Sharp, and he kindly 

 pointed out its near ally in the genus Sphcerites, and its relationship 

 to that insect is now evident to me to be such as exists between Holo- 

 lepta and Saprinus ; one is an arboreal species, the other a convex 

 stercoraceous feeder. The prominence of the mesosternum in front 

 of the middle coxae seems to indicate a relation to Lucanus, and 

 the spines on the tibiae and general outline are also somewhat 

 like Figulus, but the form of Syntelia is only analogous to the 

 Liicanidcs owing to similar habits, for the club of the antennae 

 consists of solid rings. In Sphcerites, the mesosternum ends abruptly 

 as in Ulster, and the middle and anterior coxae, therefore, almost touch, 

 but the shape of the pygidium and the other sections of the abdomen, 

 the form of the antennae, legs, and eyes connect it with Syntelia, and 

 it is doubtless, as Dr. Sharp says, of the same family. The eyes at 

 first sight seem differently constructed in Sphcerites to Syntelia, but 

 this is only owing to the sculpture and shape of the head. Synteliidce, 

 therefore, may precede Histeridce in catalogues and comprise at 

 present the two genera mentioned, which may be distinguished inter 

 se by the anterior coxal cavities being closed behind in Syntelia and 

 open in Sphisrites. Syntelia, as a genus, extends from Mexico through 

 Japan to East India, and in so wide a range the finding of new species 



