1897.] of the Coleoptera of South Africa. 15 



being of a uniform colour all over, are distinctly redder, and have a 

 broad median transverse dark band, sometimes piceous black, as 

 well as a narrower one edging the apex ; owing to the larger size, 

 the punctures on the elytra are also deeper and coarser, and so far 

 as I know P. natalensis does not occur in the Cape Colony proper, 

 whereas I have not recorded P. paussoides from anywhere else. 

 Length 8|— 9^ mm. ; width 31^-4 mm. 



Hah. Free State (Vaal Eiver), Transvaal (Potchefstroom), 

 Ovampoland (Okovango River). 



Gen. PAUSSUS, Linn., 

 Bigae Insect., Upsal, 1775, p. 7. 



Maxillary palpi four-jointed, the second longer and wider than the 

 others, labial palpi three-jointed, the apical joint longer than the 

 others and more or less acuminate at tip ; maxillae without internal 

 lobe, short and bifid ; ligula transverse, sometimes slightly sinuate, 

 always setose at tip, concave inwardly, convex outwardly, and 

 covering, with the palpi, the buccal cavity ; head declivous in front, 

 more or less elongato-quadrate, dilated behind the eyes, and 

 narrowed into a distinct neck ; vertex with either a conical, some- 

 times penicillated, spine, ridges, depressions, or prominences bearing 

 two small fossae ; eyes reniform or oval, with the posterior part of 

 the head edging the eye, projecting often and sometimes aculeate ; 

 antennae two-jointed, the basal joint thick, more or less quadrate, the 

 second one varying much in shape ; prothorax either transverse or 

 cordiform, in which case it is incised laterally and impressed trans- 

 versely, or made bipartite by a deep, transverse, sinuous groove, but 

 having always on each side a small patch of dense, short, flavescent 

 hairs ; elytra elongato-quadrate, parallel or subparallel, not much 

 convex, covering the whole abdomen except the pygidium, and 

 having on each side of the apical angle a small but very distinct 

 ridged tubercle ; they are more or less deeply punctulate and 

 pubescent, the pubescence being sometimes reduced to squamiform 

 scattered hairs, but are not striate ; legs short, compressed, bristly, 

 setulose or squamose ; femora claviform, subclaviform or com- 

 pressed ; tibiae either subcylindrical, moderately compressed or 

 dilated ; tarsi five-jointed, joints of anterior pair bristly underneath 

 in both sexes. 



From the diversity of characteristics given in this diagnosis, it is 

 seen how difficult of arrangement the species of Paussus will prove 

 to be. The extraordinary shape of the second joint, or antennal 

 club, is probably the means of identifying the species. No antennal 



