DOiicus. 155 



smooth aiul shining', witli a few scattered punctures at tlie sides 

 and close punctures and set® at the extremity. 



$. Tlie head is very coarsely- and rutiosely punctured, without 

 front angles, but with a very feeble jjrominence behind each eye. 

 Tile pronotum and elytra are vei-y shinin«x, the former very finely 

 l)unctured dorsally, strongly at the sides and rugosi'ly in the 

 front angles. The front angles are bluntly truncate, the sides 

 nearly straight to the feeble but distinct lateral angle and 

 broadly romided from there to the base. The scuteUurn is 

 distinctly jnmctured. The elytra are very minutely punctured, 

 excei)t at the sides and ajjices, where they are finely coriaceous. 

 The front tibia is shar})ly toothed externally and the extremity 

 bears three or four short ])rocesses. The middle and hind 

 tibiae have each a strong lateral spine. 



^. The head is evenly and densely granular and opaque above, 

 with the front angles sharp but not produced, and the sides of 

 the head behind the eyes slightly but not sharply prominent. 

 The mandibles are long and slender and not far apart. The 

 clypeal jirocess is almost vertical, or little hollowed, bluntly 

 pointed in front and bears a pair of rounded tubercles between 

 the mandibles. The pronotum is short, very convex and 

 densely granular, the sidc^s entirely opaque and the middle 

 rather less so. It is very broad in front, where the angles 

 are shari)ly truncate, farming an acutely produced outer 

 angle. The lateral margin is bisinuate, the lateral angle 

 acutely produced and the basal angle generally sharp but 

 sometimes blunt and occasionally indistinct. The elytra are 

 very finely coriaceous and shining, except at the sides and 

 apices, which are more or less opaque. The shoulders are 

 sharply angular. The front tibia is serrate externally, with 

 sharp teeth at irregular intervals and a rather long terminal 

 fork ; the middle tibia has a strong lateral spine and the hind 

 tibia a very minute one or none. 



Variation of the wale. In the smallest exam})le that I have 

 examined, the pronotum and el3i;ra are very shining, exce])t at 

 the sides, and distinctly punctured. The lateral margins of the 

 thorax are straight and parallel, and the truncate front angles 

 are without the usual sharp external spine. The postocular 

 l)rocess of the iiead is small but ])i'ominent and the mandibles 

 are a little longer than the heacl antl almost straight, with a 

 minute internal tooth near the l)ase and another a little before 

 the tip. In larger specimens the punctures u])on the ])ronotum 

 and elytra are absent, and the surface of the former is entirely 

 granular. The basal tooth of the mandible is strong and two 

 or three minute teetii a])])ear in the terminal part. The 

 curvature of the mandible is very slight. 



With increased size the mandibles are found to assume two 

 different ])hases in different ])aTts of the area in which the 



