New species of Phytophagous Coleoptera. 65 



another variety the elytra are, however, entirely black, with the 

 exception of a narrow basal and lateral margin ; the female has 

 less robust and straight joints of the antennae. P. variabilis may 

 easily be mistaken for Metellus fulvicollis, Jac, without an 

 examination of the antennae and thorax ; the punctuation of the 

 elytra in the present species is fine but distinct in the female, 

 entirely obsolete in the male insect. 



Metellus {Nacrea, Baly) uniformis, n. sp. 



Entirely pale fulvous ; the thorax impunctate, with two fovese ; elytra 

 depressed below the base, finely and closely punctured. 



(^ . The third joint of the antennae dilated. 



Var. The terminal joints of the antenna, the legs, and under side more 

 or less piceous. 



Length, 3^ lines. 



(J. Head longer than broad, impunctate, the penultimate joint of the 

 palpi thickened ; antennas filiform, two-thirds the length of the body, the 

 second joint extremely short, moniUform, the third longer than the first 

 joint and much dilated, subangulate at the middle, the others slender and 

 elongate ; thorax but slightly broader than long, the sides nearly straight, 

 the surface shining, impunctate, with a fovea at each side ; elytra rather 

 depressed, with the basal portion slightly raised, closely and finely punctured, 

 the punctures indistinct below the middle ; tibiae unarmed, the first joint of 

 the posterior tarsi as long as the following two joints ; claws appendiculate 

 anterior coxal cavities closed. 



Hab. Java (Fruhstorfer) . 



The genus Metellus — originally described by myself as 

 Neocharis, but changed subsequently on account of the name 

 having been used already — is identical with Baly's genus 

 Nacrcea (Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1886), which name must sink 

 into a synonym. Metellus is closely allied to Platyxantha, Baly, 

 and only differs in having the third joint of the antennae in the 

 male dilated, instead of the apical joints as in Platyxantha, the 

 same sex in the latter genus also possessing styliform processes 

 at the posterior tibiae ; there seems to be, however, no character 

 present to distinguish the female sex in the two genera (that sex 

 in the three typical species was not known to Baly, but this 

 author has since described a species possessing filiform antennae 

 in both sexes, P. clypeata). The present species, of which I 

 received one male and several females, differs from the other 

 two at present known by the uniform pale fulvous colour, and 

 from M. fulvicollis, Jac, besides its coloration in the non- 

 excavated third dilated joint of the antennas in the male ; in one 

 specimen the under side and legs are stained with piceous. 



SUPPLEMENT, ENTOM. — SEPT., 1891. 



