XLII. COLEOPTERA, IX: TEN E B R I O N I D AE. 



By F. H. Gravely, M.Sc, Assistant Superintendent, 



Indian Museum. 



(Plates XUII— XI,IV.) 



The Tenebrionidae collected by the Abor Expedition were for 

 the most part found under bark or in rotten wood. Many Tene- 

 brionids live in such situations, where they ma^^ be found even in 

 the cold season. It is therefore not surprising that their species 

 are more numerous than those of man^/ other groups which are 

 more readily met with in the open, but chiefly during the hot 

 weather and rains. 



Insects of such retiring habits as these Tenebrionids have 

 been less collected everywhere than those which are more readily 

 found ; and the large proportion of new species in the Abor collec- 

 tion is probably as much due to the way in which they were 

 collected as to zoogeographical causes. 



The most unexpected insects in the collection are perhaps 

 the two new species of Leptoscopha , a genus hitherto recorded 

 only from Madagascar ; but it is at present impossible, in view of 

 the imperfect state of our knowledge of Indian Tenebrionidae, to 

 attach any special significance even to these. 



The present, like a number of other papers in this series, 

 contains records not only of species obtained by the Abor Expedi- 

 tion, but also of species collected by Mr. H. Stevens in north-east 

 Assam and the Darjeeling District, and by myself in the Amherst 

 District of Tenasserim. 



All the species enumerated below were determined for me by 

 Herr Hans Gebien, when I visited Hamburg about two years ago. 

 Several of the known species with which new forms are compared 

 were lent to me by him for that purpose, and were still with me 

 when the war deprived me of his continued help. Other work pre- 

 vented my taking up the writing of this paper till after the com- 

 mencement of the war, and I have omitted from it descriptions of 

 several new species for an adequate description of which I have 

 felt my own knowledge to be insufficient, and concerning which I 

 have wished to consult him again. I cannot thank him too deeply 

 for his constant kindness to me in Hamburg, and for the assistance 

 with which he was ever ready, so long as he was able to communi- 

 cate with me. Information given below as to the distribution of 

 known species has been obtained from his Catalogue (Junk's 

 " Coleopterorum Catalogus ") where references to previous literature" 

 will be found, from his private collection and notes, and from the 

 Indian Museum collection. 



