So%dh American EumolpidiB. 509 



lateral or apical margins in the present species, and in 

 the fulvous tarsi. C. deyrollei, Baly, has the under surface 

 and legs piceous and differs entirely in its system of 

 coloration. 



MELINODEA, gen. nov. 



Body oblong, glabrous, antennae with the apical joints dilated, 

 palpi incrassate, thorax transverse, of equal width, the sides entire, 

 feebly rounded, scutellum oblong, elytra wider than the thorax, 

 irregularly punctured, legs robust, the femora unarmed, tibiae bicari- 

 nate at each side, the first joint of the posterior tarsi longer than the 

 second one, claws bifid, the inner division short, prosternum broad, 

 its apex truncate, the anterior margin of the thoracic episternum 

 convex. 



The genus proposed here will enter the group of 

 Endocephalinm of Chapuis' arrangement ; it does not agree 

 with any genus placed in that section and seems inter- 

 mediate between Endoccphalus and Ifclinojjhora, from 

 both of which it differs in the bifid claws ; the more 

 elongate shape approaches nearly to Endocephcdus but 

 the shape of the thorax is rather more transverse and less 

 subcylindrical, the same difference separates the genus 

 from Melino])hora, in which the thorax is rounded and 

 dilated at the sides. 



Melinodea metcdlica, sp. n. 



Below and the legs violaceous blue, above metallic greenish, head 

 and thorax extremely minutely punctured, elytra very finely and 

 closely punctured, the interstices minutely granulate and aciculate. 



Length 8 millim. 



Head very sparingly and finely punctured and granulate, green, 

 subopaque, the spaces at the base of the antenna) dark blue, clypeus 

 separated at the sides only by fine oblique grooves, bluish, its apex 

 triangularly emarginate, labrum and palpi black, the latter strongly 

 thickened, eyes sinuate at their iuner margin, antennae extending to 

 about the middle of the elytra, black, the lower joints bluish, the 

 terminal five joints widened and flattened ; thorax twice as broad as 

 long, the anterior margin straight at the middle, the angles produced 

 in front, posterior margin obliquely widened towards the middle, 

 the sides feebly rounded, with a narrow marginal groove, the surface 

 sculptured and punctured like the head ; scutellum bliie, finely 

 punctured ; elytra convex, narrowed at the apex, the shoulders 



