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VIII. Descriptions of some Coleopterous Insects from Tropical Africa, belonging to the 

 section Heteromera. By J. O. Westwood, Esq., F.L.S. S^c. 



Communicated October 12, 1841. 



1 AM induced to offer the following memoir to the Zoological Society, in the first 

 place, because the insects therein described are of the greatest rarity; and secondly, 

 because they illustrate the fact expressed in most zoological groups, of the existence of 

 certain species or genera of gigantic size compared with the ordinary size of the species 

 of the group, and which in general ofi'er material aberrations from the real types of the 

 family to which they respectively belong ; Manticora amongst the Cicindelida, the 

 Goliath beetles amongst the Cetoniida, and Fulgora amongst the Fulgoridce, may be 

 cited as illustrations of this peculiarity. In the present case, Chiroscelis and the other 

 groups about to be described in this paper are amongst the giants of the Tenehrionidce , 

 to which family I refer them, although they exhibit several characters at variance with 

 those of the typical Tenebriones. Thus in Chiroscelis we have the form and colours of 

 Tenebrio, but the mandibles are destitute of the membranous piece inserted in a notch 

 on the inside. Odontopus, again, in its metallic characters, resembles the Helopidee ; 

 whilst the same character, joined to a dilated convex form in Pezodontus, Dej. Cat., and 

 Metallonotus, G. R. Gray, and especially the large terminal joint of the antennae, gives 

 these insects some relation with Lagria. 



Chiroscelis, Lamarck, Annales du Museum, torn. iii. p. 260 (1804). 



Species 1. Chiroscelis bifenestra, Lamarck. 



This genus, Chiroscelis, was established for the reception of an insect respecting whose 

 native country there is some doubt ; Lamarck stating, " Ce Coleopt^re habite vraisem- 

 blabiement dans la Nouvelle Hollande ; car il se trouvait parmi ceux de cette contree 

 que le Capitaine Baudin a envoye par le vaisseau le Naturaliste." (op. cit. p. 263) ; whilst 

 Latreille states, " Habitat in Australasia ; insula S'^ Marie, Dom. Dom. Peron, Lesueur," 

 (Gen. Ins. ii. 144), adding, however, " Speciem alteram priori fere similem, at paulo 

 miuorem, et maculis abdominalibus nulhs, ex Africa attulit Peron." The comparison 

 thus made with the African species leads us to inquire the size of Lamarck's insect, 

 which is stated to have been " un peu plus de 4 centimetres (un pouce et demi)" [or 

 rather, 1 inch 8 lines English] " de longueur," and his figure, " de la grandeur natu- 

 relle," (pi. 22. fig. 2.) exactly accords with this description. The other distinguishing 

 character mentioned by Latreille is a sexual one, and will not therefore assist us. It is 

 to be observed, however, that the characters of Lamarck's insect, except in size, appear 



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