84 COLEOPTERA. 



it is imported, though Mr. Waterhouse has taken Uve speci- 

 mens in the garden attached to the British Museum. Being 

 unable to refer the insect to any genus with which I am 

 acquainted, and finding no reference to it in Stephens' 

 Manual, I sent one of the last-mentioned specimens to Mr. 

 T. V. Wollaston for examination, and have received the 

 following communication from him on the subject : — 



" Although I have not had time to dissect your 

 insect, I feel sure that it is a member of the Thorictidce, 

 of which it will probably form a new genus. Its largely 

 developed prothorax, short mesosternum, almost obso- 

 lete scutellum, apterous, unpubescent body, and thick 

 abbreviated limbs, are quite in accordance with Tho- 

 rictus; and, like the Thoincti, I suspect that it is also 

 blind ; though, at first sight, the prominent and dark- 

 ened edges of its clypeus might be almost mistaken 

 for eyes. Its antennae likewise — with their extremely 

 solid tri-articulated club, the last joint of which is 

 obliquely truncated and pilose— are quite of the Tho- 

 richis-iy^Q', and so are its short sub-conical feet. I 

 am satisfied that the latter are 5-jointed throughout; 

 for, although (as in Thorictm) the basal joint of the 

 anterior pair is difficult to detect, yet this is merely the 

 consequence of its being much reduced in length, and 

 immersed in the apex of the tibia. Moreover, it has a 

 faint tendency to possess the humeral (or sub-humeral) 

 plica, which is so characteristic of the Thoricti; and, 

 altogether, therefore, until its oral organs have been 

 critically examined, I should be inclined to regard it 

 even as a true Tliorictus, though I believe it v/ill con- 

 stitute the type of an allied genus. Of course its 11- 

 jointed antennas and pentamerous tarsi will, apart from 

 all other characters, at once remove it from the various 

 forms of the Colydiadce.^' 



