Die Damaster-Coptolabras-Gruppe der Gattung Garabus. 103 



the preseiit state of our kiiowledge of the members of the genus 

 Damaster, I believe myself justified in considering as a distinct 

 species the insect of which the diagnosis appears above, and which 

 was detected and biought to this country by my fiiend, Mr. George 

 Lewis, from two widely separated (by some 400 miles) Japanese 

 localities, one atHiogo, on the coast ofNipon, the largest Island 

 of the group, and the other on Simabara, a volcanic mountain 

 on the coast of the smaller Island K u s h i u , — both of which are 

 Sandy districts. I have mj^self seen upwards of forty examples of 

 this insect, which, from its smaller size, and shorter legs and elytral 

 mucro, seems well separable from D. blaptoides, to which, however, 

 it is most certainly closely allied, and which appears only to be 

 found in deep peaty woods on old granitic formations, and to be 

 excessively restricted as to locality, occuring on the hüls at the 

 back of Nagasaki. 



In addition to the above-raentioned characters of smaller size 

 (varying from nearly 1 ^2 inches to nearly 2 inches, whereas blaptoides 

 is always considerably over the later measurement), comparatively 

 shorter legs, much shorter miicronated apex of the elytra (in which 

 respect it seems intermediate between blaptoides and forfunei, which 

 is, only known to occur at Yokohama; L. 129,2*', ßr. 35,1")^), and 

 obsolete or absent thoracic smooth median line, I observe that, 

 comparing these insects in the bulk with blaptoides, they are apparentlj- 

 rather more convex, and have an apparently shorter thorax, which 

 is rather more contracted in the lower third before the posterior 

 angles. But I can find no other differences; any fancied discrepancy 

 in colour or punctuation disappearing on the comparison of a number 

 of specimens. As regards the mucronated apex of the elytra, individual 

 peculiarities, and even unsymmetrical developments in the same 

 specimen, occur in all the species; but, allowing every possible latitude 

 in this respect, the difference remains very marked between blaptoides 

 and leivisü. 



I do not know whether it has been observed before, but it 

 seems to me beyond doubt that the elytral mucro is longer in the 

 male sex of all the species. 



D. fortunei difiers widely from the insect now under consideration 

 in its merely rudimentary elytral mucro, much shorter, wider, and 



1) Die Angabe, daß fortunei Ad. bei Yokohama vorkomme, ist 

 durchaus irrig. D. fortunei kommt vielmehr von der Insel Tabu Shima 

 (s. bei fortunei). 



