SPILOPHORUS. 201 



Genus SPILOPHORUS. 



Spilophorus, Lacord, Gen. Col iii, 1856, p. 545 ; IVcstw.., Thes. Ent. 



O.von. 1874, p. 28. 

 Centrognathus, Burm. (nee Guerin), Handb. Ent. iii, 1842, p. 652. 

 Pseudospilophorus, Kraatz, Deutsche Ent. Zeitschr, 1899, p. 68. — 



Type Cremastochilus maculatus, G. & P. 



Type, Spilophorus pJagosus, Westw. (Africa). 



Range. Africa and India. 



Form rather depressed, broad and parallel-sided, with short 

 legs. Clypeus short and broad ; the eyes prominent. Prothorax 

 broadly transverse, contracted in front and strongly emarginate 

 in front of the scutellum. Scutellum large, not long but very 

 acute. Elytra strongly sinuated behind the shoulders. Meso- 

 sternum not produced. Front tibia feebly bidentate; middle and 

 hind tibiiB strongly toothed at the middle of the outer margin 

 and digitate at the end. All the tarsi short and compact. Mentum 

 broad in front and feebly emarginate. Maxillary lobes forming 

 two very strong teeth. Mandible with a strong hooked tooth at 

 the end. Last pair of abdominal spiracles elevated. 



6 . The abdomen is hollowed beneath. 



According to Mr. Peringuey, Spilophorus lives in South Africa 

 in the nests of Passerine birds, where both the larva and adult 

 feed upon the nest-material or excrement. The black and white 

 colouring of all the species appears to be a protective assimilation 

 to such an environment, but if the same habit prevails in India it 

 is not invariable, for one of the two species has been found in an 

 Ants' nest. 



Kegarding the two Indian species (hitherto treated as one) as 

 constituting the type of Westwood's genus, Dr. Kraatz made a 

 new genus for the African forms. This is based on very slight 

 grounds, and since the anatomical details described and figured by 

 \Vestwood are those of the African and not the Indian species, I 

 consider it incorrect to treat the latter as his type. The confusion 

 of the two Indian species is a further objection to this. 



Key to the Species. 



Iliud angles of the prothorax not distinct. . 7naculatus,G. & P., p. 202. 

 Hind angles of the prothorax sharp cretosus, Hope, p. 201. 



179. Spilophorus cretosus. 



Cetonia cretosa, Hope, Trans. Zool. Soc. Lond. i, 1835, p. 98. 

 Spilophorus maculatus, Kraatz (nee G. &f 1'.), Deutsche Ent. 

 Zeitschr. 1899, p. 02. 



Black and shining above and beneath, with white markings 

 distributed as follows : — a large patch on each side of the pronotum, 

 wider in the anterior part, where it usually encloses a minute black 

 spot, and a minute spot near the base on each side, a humeral 



