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ON A JAPANESE SPECIES OF SANDALUS. 

 By George Lewis, F.L.S. 



Sandalus segnis (male and female). 



The ^enus Sandalus was formed by Knocli in the first 3'ear of 

 this century to receive two insects from North America, and the 

 present species, which is the first from Asia, is somewhat similar 

 to them. The known species of Saiidalus number, according to 

 the Munich Catalogue, to about twelve ; they are rare in 

 collections, and certainly local or uncommon in nature, and I 

 believe the imagos are very short-lived. I found the first 

 specimens in Japan, on the 10th June, clinging to some old 

 railings which were partly rotten and lichen-covered, and from 

 the condition of the specimens it was evident that they had just 

 left their pupa-skins. In the daytime the beetles are very 

 sluggish and inert, and I think it possible that they never move, 

 unless they are disturbed, until the evening when they fly to 

 meet their mates. The disparity in the size of the sexes classes 

 Sandalus with those insects in which the female is often several 

 times larger than the male. 



The figures given of a small male and an ordinary- sized 

 female will be useful in giving an idea of the general outline of 

 the genus (even if it does not serve to identify the species), which 

 is a peculiar one, and may not be familiar to entomologists whose 

 studies range over several classes of insects. The structure of 

 the second and third pairs of legs and the claws at the end of all 

 the tarsi will call to mind those of Melolontha, and they are 

 doubtless used for clinging and moving in the same way ; but in 

 Sandalus the fore tibite are simple and not armed, as in the 

 other. The Lamellicornes use their strong fore tibiae for delving 

 and excavating, wliile Sandalus belongs to the Rhipidoceridse, a 

 family whose members during the stage of growth feed on 



