February, 1833. J 193 



ON A NEW SPECIES OF MOUHOTIA {SCARITIDJL). 

 BY GEOKGE LEWIS. 



In the January number of tliis Magazine, 1879, I noticed a new 

 species of Mouhofia from Burma, and T am now able to bring forward 

 another, the third in the genus, discovered by Dr. Hamand on the 

 banks of the River Mekong. If I rightly understand the habits of 

 those insects, they live much as Craspedonotus does in China on the 

 banks of the Tang-tze ; they burrow into the banks of rivers which 

 run through large alluvial plains and then sit watching for prey at 

 the orifices of their holes. To find Craspedonotus in China, you must 

 follow up the Tang-tze for 500 or 600 miles when the soil becomes 

 light and sandy. Near Shaughai all is mud, and it is the same on all 

 large rivers near the mouth. The Cambodia river as far as Saigon 

 is too muddy for large Scarifidcs. I visited the last place in 1880, and 

 left some drawings of M. gloriosa with a resident in the hope of 

 obtaining something like it, but hitherto there has been no result. 



MOUUOTIA CONVEXA, sp. n. 

 Nigra, protJioracis marline laterali hasaJique necnon elytrorum 

 marginibus lateralihus late cupreis ; ehjtris convexis, striis hiJineatim 

 punctatis, interstitiis plnnis, marginibus angustis. Prothoracis lined 

 mediand longitudinali nulla vel obsoletd. 



Long, {cum mandihuJis) 20 lin. 



This species is the size of M. Batesi, but the difference of out- 

 line between the two species is very cousiderable. The head, thorax 

 and the elj'tra especially ai'e more convex ; the thorax is much less 

 constricted behind, and at the base measures 5 lines in breadth, while 

 M. Batesi attains barely 4 lines there. The convexity of the elytra 

 gives them a much narrower margin than in M. Batesi, and each stria 

 (there are 9 or 10 in all) consists merely of a double line of punctures ; 

 the interstices are quite smooth and level. The elytral striae are 

 strongest at the sides and at the apex. In the region of the scutellum 

 the striae or points run gradually into single rows, and near the base 

 of the Aving-case they are almost obsolete. The thoracic medial line, 

 which is very clearly defined in M. Batesi, has almost disappeared in 

 M. convexa. 



I am much indebted to the kindness of M. Blanchard, the well- 

 known savant of Paris, for my example of this species, which is one of 

 a fair series from Laos through which the river mentioned runs. 



Mr. C. O. Waterhouse gives a figure of M. Batesi m his "Aid 

 to the identification of Insects" for Januaiy, and has kindly promised 

 to figure the present species in the part foi'theoming in April. Of the 

 two species here noticed, M. gloriosa comes nearest to M. Batesi. 



Wimbledon : Hth December, 1882. 



