834 Transactiom South African Philosophical Society, [vol. xii. 



MoNocHELus spiNiPES, Fabr., 



Plate XLII. fig. 51. 



Spec. Insect., i., p. 44. 



Oliv., Entom., i., 5, p. 72, pi. vi., fig. 63 a. b. 



$ 3/. subvittatus, Burm., Handb. d. Entom., iv., 1, p. 156. 



Male : Black, almost glabrous on tbe upper side and having in the 

 base of the prothorax and also on the scutellum and elytra a few 

 widely scattered, whitish scales, traces of which are also seen on the 

 sides of the metasternum and on the abdominal segments ; head very 

 scabrose ; clypeus somewhat excavate and with the margins very dis- 

 tinctly raised, strongly angular laterally in the basal part and slightly 

 oblique there, broad at the tip, slightly emarginate in the middle, 

 and with the apical angles somewhat rounded ; prothorax deeply and 

 very closely scabroso-punctate, moderately deeply grooved longitu- 

 dinally in the middle and having along the latei'al outer margin a 

 series of equi-distant, sub-remote short black bristles ; eh^ra covered 

 with somewhat closely set transverse scabrose punctures and having 

 on each side three very faint costas ; pygidium finely punctulate with 

 the punctures sHghtly scabrose ; pectus very briefly pubescent ; hind 

 femora very thick and with the trochanters produced into a long 

 spine, hind tibiae somewhat flattened and not grooved underneath 

 l)ut having the lower edge strongly bi-dentate near the knee and the 

 a,pical part mucronate on each side, in the great development the 

 second inner tooth is sometimes truncate at tip or slightly bifid ; hind 

 claws single, simple. 



Female : Fulvous brown, and with the upper side, the abdomen 

 and legs covered with moderately closely set, elongate whitish scales 

 turning to squamiform appressed hairs on the pygidium ; the head 

 is shaped as in the male, but the apical margin is still more highly 

 reflexed ; the two apical outer teeth of the fore tibite are more robust 

 than in the male, and the hind claws are single and simple. 



Length 10-12 mm. ; width 5^-7 mm. 



I have often met with this species in fields of corn or oats, at the 

 beginning of the spring (September) but I have very seldom captured 

 the female, whose facies differs very strongly from that of the male. 



Hab. Cape Colony (Cape Town, Stellenbosch, Paarl, Mahnesbury, 

 "Worcester). 



MoNOCHELUS SCUTELLARIS, BurUl., 



Handb. d. Entomol., iv., 1, p. 155. 

 Male : Black, shining, clothed with appressed hairs, margins of 

 prothorax, scutellum, and abdomen covered with wbite scales, 



