TIIAUMASTOPEUS. 195 



174. Thaumastopeus pullus. 



Cetonia nigrita, Frohlich (nee Fab.), Naturf. Gesells. Halle, xxvi, 



1792, p. 110; xxix, 1802, p. 114, pi. 3, fig-. 5; Heller, Deutsche 



Ent. Zeitschr. 1899, p. 3oo. 

 Cetonia pulla, Billhery, Schoiih. Si/n. Insect, i, 3, 1817, Apjh, p. 46; 



Schaum, Ami. Soc. Eat. France, 1849, p. 2(31. 

 Cetonia antliracina, Wied.,"^ Zool. Ma;/, ii, 1, 1823, p. 83. 

 Lomaptera viridiasnea, G. 8)- P.,* Monotjr. Cet. 1833, p. 309, pi. 60, 



fig. o. 

 Taumastopeiis simillimus, Schoch,* Mi/t/t. Schweiz. ent. Ges. x, 



1898, p. 157. 

 Lomaptera ebena, Burni., Handb. Ent. iii, 1842, p. 815. 



Shining black, more or less tinged with blue, metallic green or 

 copper. 



Very elongate, flat above, straight-sided and slightly tapering 

 from shoulders to apex. The clypeus is strongly rounded at the 

 sides, contracted before the eyes, deeply cleft, and rugosely punc- 

 tured on each side of the middle. The pronotum is unpunctured, 

 except at the sides, which are more or less closely striated in an 

 oblique direction ; the lateral edges are strongly margined, 

 angulate at the middle and sinuated behind, the posterior angles 

 are sharp and the basal lobe long and bluntly pointed, with a 

 slight longitudinal impression at the extreme tip. The elytra are 

 quite smooth at the inner part, rather finely rugose at the sides 

 and apices, and sometimes have incomplete longitudinal lines of 

 punctures at the outer part of the disc. The sutural margins are 

 elevated at the posterior part and the apical margins separately 

 rounded. The pugidiimi is moderately finely and transversely 

 strigose but not opaque, and feebly impressed in the middle, and 

 the metasternum and abdomen are very smooth in the middle and 

 rather thinly punctured at the sides. The stenud process is slender 

 and curved. 



The two sexes are almost indistinguishable, but the male has a 

 slight vestige of a ventral groove, the hind tarsi are a little longer 

 relatively than those of the female, and the tibial spurs a little 

 sharper. 



Length 18-2S mm. ; breadth 8'5-14 mm. 



PcNJAB : Kangra Valley; "W. Beistgal : Chapra, Nowatoli, 

 Palkot ; Assam : Naga Hills, Manipur ; Bhutan : Maria Basti ; 

 SiKKiM : Karsiang, Darjiling ; Tenassekim ; Andaman Is. ; 

 Ceylon ; Malay Peninsula ; Java ; etc. 



The types of Billberg and Frohlich cannot be traced, that of 

 anthracina is in the Copenhagen Museum, that of viriduenea in 

 the Oxford Museum, that of simillimus in the Zurich Poly- 

 teknicura. 



In spite of its abundance and familiarity I have not been able to 

 obtain any information as to the habits or life-history of this 

 insect. As is commonly the case with animals which are abundant 

 and distributed over a very wide extent of country it is exceedingly 

 inconstant in its external features and it is difficult, and perhaps 



o2 



