468 CANABIAN COLEOPTEBA. 



2?orum art ulV"" in maocillarihus Becuriformi-ovali, in lahialibus 

 elongato-ovali apice paulo acuminato. Mentum transversum, ad 

 latera valde rotundatum, apice in medio emarginatum, angiilis an- 

 ticis obtusis. lAgxda curta, pone mentum recondita, antice biloba 

 et longe ciliata. Pedes antici fossorii, valde robusti, tihiis latis, 

 compressis sed extus simplicibus,subinciir\ds, ad angnilum internum 

 fortiter bicalcaratis (calcari majore elongato, curvato) ; jjosUi-iores 

 elongati, gracUes, tihiis subexcurvis, tarsis elongatis, art" 1™° lon- 

 giusculo, 



A ^e\m'(i-)Q)ii)s (^eXas et yjioos), atratus. 



The curious insect from which the above structural characters have 

 been compiled is at once remarkable amongst the allied fonns for its 

 fossorial habits, in which respect it makes an approach to the Ero- 

 diadce, though its broad and much compressed anterior tibiae are 

 not palmate externally. Its body is short, convex, and elliptical-ovate, 

 the prothorax being subconical and narrower than the elytra, and its 

 epipleurae are rather rounded and obtuse ; and although their edges 

 are not ciliated as is frequently the case in sand-burrowing species, 

 its antennce are nevertheless exceedingly pilose, being clothed with 

 elongate hairs. Its epistome is minutely serrated in front and slightly 

 mucronated in the centre ; and its eyes are small, subrotundate, and 

 lateral, — in both of which respects it agrees with Gnoplwta. Its 

 prosternal lobe also is more in accordance with the Onophotce than 

 with the members of the neighbouring genera — since it is not pro- 

 duced horizontally beyond the commencement of the anterior coxae, 

 but may be regarded either as there suddenly terminated, or else as 

 so completely bent downwards as to appear so ; but its mesosternum 

 has not even a tendency to be scooped-out in front, being, on the con- 

 trary, convex. Its scutelhun is distinct, its elytra are margined along 

 their basal edge, and its four hinder legs are slender and elongated — 

 all of which particulars, no less than the smallness of its eyes, its 

 general outline, and its fossorial front tibiae, will separate it likewise 

 from Oxycara, to which in some respects it is akin. The last joint 

 of its antennae, although smallish, is not obliquely truncated (as in 

 Hegeter and the allied groups) ; neither are the under segments of 

 its prothorax longitudinally strigose*. 



706. Melanochrus Lacordairii, n. sp. 

 M. breviter elliptico-ovatus, convexus, niger, ssepius obsoletissime 

 (vix perspicue) submetallico-tinctus, nitidus, argute sed hand dense 



* Concerning the affinities of this insect, Prof. Lacordaire, immediately after 

 the completion of his admirable volume on the genera of the Heferomera, wrote 

 to me as follows : — " Cest bien une Tentyriide, et im genre nouveau voisin des 

 Gnophofa et des O.ri/cara." 



