ALISSONOTUM. 299 



270. Alissonotum piceum. 



Scarabaeus piceus, Fah.* Si/st, U?it. i, 1775, p. 14 j Oliv., Ent. i, 3, 



1789, p. 53, pi. 24, tig. 211. 

 Geotriipes piceus, Fab., Syst. Eleut. i, 1801, p. 19. 

 Heteronychus piceus, Bitrm., Handh. Ent. v, 1847, p. 93. 

 Phileurus detractus. Walk.,* Ann. May. Nat. Hist. (3) iii, 1859, 



p. 54. 



Very deep red, sometimes black above, broadly ovate, convex, 

 smooth and shining. The head is rugose, with a slight transverse 

 carina before the eyes, interrupted in the middle and generally 

 bearing two tubercles placed close together. The clypeus is trun- 

 cate in front, where it bears two reflexed teeth. The pronotum is 

 smooth and convex, strongly and regularly rounded at the sides, 

 without anterior impression or elevation, very minutely punctured, 

 the punctures being stronger at the sides but not close. The 

 scutetlum is smooth and the elytra are deeply punctate-striate, the 

 punctures more or less annular ; the apical borders are irregularly, 

 and the lateral borders lightly, punctured. The stridulatory files 

 of the propygidium vary greatly : they are sometimes continued 

 to the posterior margin, broad and well-developed, and sometimes 

 terminate at a distance from it or are reduced in the hinder part 

 to mere vestiges. The pygidium is strongly and deeply punctured, 

 but often smooth at the apical part only or everywhere but 

 the sides. The metastemum is smooth, usually with scattered 

 punctures at the sides, and the abdomen is unpunctured. 



The sexes are alike. 



Length 11-13 mm. ; breadth 6-7 mm. 



SiKKiM : Darjiling ; Bengal : Sundarbands, Dacca ; Madras : 

 Malabar ; Ceylon. 



l'yp)e in the British Museum ; also that of detractus. 



271. Alissonotum elongatum, sp. n. 



Black, reddish beneath, very smooth and shining, rather 

 elongate and not very convex above, with the greatest breadth 

 behind the middle of the elytra. The Jiead is rugose, with two 

 median tubercles and a well-marked depression behind them, and 

 the clypeus is bidentate. The pronotum is very smooth, finely 

 punctured in the region of the front and hind angles, without 

 anterior impression, well rounded at the sides and scarcely nar- 

 rowed towards the front. The scutellum is smooth and the elytra 

 are rather unequally punctate-striate, the punctures moderately 

 large and irregular at the lateral and apical margins. The 2^^'o- 

 pygidium is finely punctured and the piigidium coarsely and 

 closely. The metastemum is smooth, with a few punctures at the 

 sides, and the abdomen unpunctured. 



<S . The inner claw of the front tarsus is sharp and of normal 

 shape, but is a little thickened and has an indication of a basal 

 lobe. 



