SCEPTICUS. 65 



28. Scepticus nubifer, Fst. 



Thylacites nuhifer, P'aust * Stett. Ent. Zeit. 1886, p. 131. 



Colour black, with variegated grey and brown scaling. 



Closely allied to T. noxius, i'aust, but distinguislied by the 

 following points. Head with tlie central furrow ascending to the 

 vertex. Prothorax with the sides much more strongly rounded in 

 the anterior half, the punctation finer and less distinct, the central 

 furrow narrow and shallow. Elytra more elongate, comparatively 

 narrow at the shoulders and broadest far behind tlie middle. 



Length, 5,4 mm.; breadth 2| mm. 



Kashmir : Dras, Kargil and Leli (StoUczka — Ind. Mus.). 



Type in the Dresden Museum. 



29. Scepticus caesius, sp. nov. 



Colour black, \\'ith uniform dense bluish-grey scaling. 



Head with scattered punctures and a fine central stria, almost 

 concealed by the scaling, liostvum as long as broad, broadest at 

 the base, narrowed to the middle and thence slightly dilated to 

 the apex, the upper surface almost flat, with a very shallow central 

 furrow in the basal half. Antennai red-brown, the funicle with 

 joint 1 thicker and slightly longer than 2, 3-6 subequal and bead- 

 like, 7 much larger. Prothorax as long as broad, the sides 

 moderately rounded, broadest before the middle, with a very faint 

 subapical constriction, the base slightly broader than the apex 

 and marginate laterally ; the upper surface uneven, rugosely 

 punctate, without any trace of a central furrow, the sculpturing 

 partly concealed by the scaling. Scutellum rudimentary. Elytra 

 broadly ovate, shaped as in *S'. noxius, broadest about the middle, 

 the shoulders rounded, jointly sinuate at the base, the apices 

 separately rounded; the striae rather broad and shallow, with 

 remote punctures, the intervals broad and flat, roughened with 

 small low granules and set with short stiff sefse, which are shorter 

 and curved on the disk, and a little longer and more erect behind. 



Length, 5.7 mm. ; breadth, 2^ mm. 



Kashmir': Gilgit, 5000 ft. (Col. G. M. Giles). 



Type 5 in the Indian Museum. 



Very similar to /S^. noxius, Fst., but the apical portion of the 

 rostrum is more sloping and the central furrow much more 

 shallow; the scape is longer ; the prothorax has no central furrow 

 and its base is more distinctly marginate ; the elytra are sinuate 

 at the base and more evidently marginate, the striae are shallower, 

 the dorsal intervals rather broader and flatter, and the setae are 

 much stouter. 



30. Scepticus kashmirensis, sp. nov. 



Colour black, with uniform dense brown scaling, having a slight 

 metallic reflexion at the apex of the rostrum, 



F 



