366 EUCHiEiN^i:. 



beetle also is probably an iinpoi'tation from those regions, but 

 this arguinent fails if, as it appears, the insect does not confine 

 itself to a particular kind of tree. The beetles are said to frequent 

 the tops of the trees, possibly attracted by the sticky berries 

 referred to. Eucliirus longimanus, according to Wallace, is 

 invariably found in Amboyna feeding upon the exuding sap of 

 the sugar-palm (Arenr/a saccharifera), \\hich is tapped by the 

 natives in order to provide a fermented drink (Wallace, ' Malay 

 Archipelago,' 1890, p. 232, pi. 33). 



Burmeister and subsequent writers, including Lacordaire, 

 separated t1ie Syrian and Eastern European " Scarahreus '' 

 himucronatvs of Pallas under the generic name Projyomacrns 

 from all the other known species of the gron]>, which they 

 associated together by the name of Euchirns, but, as pointed 

 out by Deyrolle, this is quite an unnatural division. The two 

 elongate Malayan species, Eucliirus longimanus and duponiianus. 

 in which the prothorax is smooth and narrow, and the front 

 tibiae of the male without teeth or processes, are obviouslj- 

 more closely related to each other than to any other, while 

 Propomacnis bimucronatus (with P. davidi, Deyr.) has the same 

 broad prothorax, with its toothed lateral margins, and general 

 form as all the remaining species, the only difference of any 

 importance being the occurrence of a thick hairy fringe upon 

 the front tibia of the male. Burmeister enumerated as the 

 grounds for separating P. himucronatus the shape of the labrum, 

 that of the clypeus, and the occurrence of teeth upon the front 

 tibia of the male. The two latter of these distinctions are found 

 by comparison of a sufficient number of specimens to have no 

 substantial existence, and the first is so slight, consisting only in 

 the presence or absence of an indentation A^arying in degree 

 in different species, that it is now admitted that no importance 

 can be attached to it. 



M. Pouillaude, in a recent survey of the group, has again 

 proposed the separation of Projiomacrus himucronatus and davidi, 

 and the revival of the old name Cheirotoims for the Indian 

 species and those most closely allied to them. The reasons for 

 this he finds in the following points: — the green ground-colour 

 of the latter, as opposed to the brownish tints of the two former, 

 the projection of the front margin of the prouotum in the middle, 

 and the absence of tlie hairy fringe of the male front tibia. 

 Although in tabulating the species of Cheirotonus he recognizes 

 as specific the degree of development of the minute anterior 

 prominence of the prouotum, he has not noticed that in the 

 type-species of Cheirotonus {0. macleayi, Hope) it is replaced by 

 a sligiit indentation. The difference of colour is certainly fairly 

 well marked in the known species, but is not absolute, Propo- 

 macrus davidi having a slight green lustre upon the elytra ; and 

 tliere may well be other species yet unknown by which this 

 unimportant distinction will be further bridged. In fact these 

 two minute differences, although of some value, in the absence of 



