ÜITONECES TRICOLOR. '•*" 



11. Ditoneces ') ruf o-h 7'tin neus , sp. ii. 



Niger , protliorace , scutello , elytrisqae rufo-bruuneis , his 

 apiceiu versus indistincte infuscatis, antennis acute serratis, 

 elytris pubesceutibus. — Long. 8 — 10 millim, Q. 



Head not rostrate , antennae two thirds of the body's 

 length, widely and acutely serrate. Thorax round in front, 

 sides narrowing from the base, basal margin faintly not- 

 ched in the centre , disk without areolets , the middle wi- 

 dely and rather irregularly channelled, the front faintly 

 carinate. Elytra with four costae, with double rows of 

 punctures but so thickly pubescent or squamose , as to 

 render the latter indistinct. 



The scutellum is rufous, the elytra more or less clou- 

 ded in their apical half. 



Two specimens : one from the West coast , the other from 

 the district of liawas (Sum. Exp,). 



Var. ? thorace et scutello infuscatis. 



One example from Koetoer (Sum. Exp.). 



12. Ditoneces tricolor, sp. n. 



Niger, prothorace et scutello piceis , elytris dimidio basali 

 ultra medium pallide flavis, antennis acute serratis. — Long. 

 8 niillim. (^. 



1) The extreme difficulty whicli surrounds any attempt to find permanent 

 characters for any of the smaller, or indeed the larger species of Lycidae, 

 will explain my reason for reserving Plateros lor the American species rather 

 than assign the present insects, which agree with it in most respects, to that 

 genus. Bifoneces according to Mr. Waterhouse has the antennae of the male 

 pectinate, the rami (in those species which he has examined) springing either 

 from the middle or apex of each joint which hears them. In four specimens 

 from Sumatra which have plain thoraces with a simple central groove, the an- 

 tennae are strongly serrate, these may be all females. In one male specimen 

 (which from the structure of its thorax and elytra I cannot separate from the 

 same genus) the antennae are pectinate, but the separate rami start from the 

 bases of the joints; this is a character of Caatires Waterh. , but that genus 

 has seven areolets to the thorax. M'ithout making a fresh genus, for whicli 

 I see no necessity, there is no alternative but to refer it to either of those 

 genera, according as we give most weight to the structure of the antennae or thorax. 



Notes from the r^eyrlen. ]VI\iseum, Vol. IV, 



