of the Amazons Valley. 97 
which they can be certainly distinguished; nevertheless the shorter and 
more turgid prothorax of Metopiestes gives it quite a different generic 
habit, although the force of this is much weakened by the species just 
described. The form of the front and of the clypeus, the position of 
the lip, the depth and extent of the antennary canal and its influence 
in modifying the outline of the eye, and the relative sizes of the two 
club-joints seem to afford only specific characters. Both genera are 
nearly allied to Petalophora, Westw., which, but for its club and 
prothorax, would be quite as difficult to diagnose; and these pecu- 
liarities might at any time lose their importance by the discovery of 
other species. 
MInTHEA. 
Caput retractum, triangulare ; ocwlis prominulis. Antenne subelongatee, 
liberee, 11-articulate, clava magna, biarticulata. Prothorax subqua- 
dratus, antice rotundatus. Elytra parallela. Tibia subtrigonate, cal- 
caratee ; tarsis brevibus. Corpus breviter cylindricum. (Coxe post. 
subremote. 4d. segm. primo majore.) 
These characters are drawn up from two species which resemble 
each other so closely as for the moment to be scarcely distinguish- 
able; one of these is from Ega, the other from New Guinea. Besides 
the unusual length of the antenne, for this family, and the form of 
the club, which is remarkable for its size, especially of the last joint, 
the mentum is broadly transverse and rounded anteriorly, and the 
lip is very small and apparently triangular; but this is probably 
owing to the accidental adhesion of longly ciliated paraglosse as 
in Aperstus. In Erichson’s arrangement, this genus, owing to the 
position of the coxe, and the large basal abdominal segment, would 
be placed with Bothrideres and Sosylus; in habit it bears a certain 
general resemblance to some Bostrichide, especially to Tomicus. 
Minthea squamigera. (Pl. V. fig. 6.) 
M. brunnea; prothorace convexo, squamoso; elytris’ squamoso-lineatis ; 
antennarum articulo ultimo elongato. 
Hab. Ega. 
Reddish brown; head rather broadly triangular, with erect scattered 
scales in front ; eyes large, prominent, close to the prothorax ; antennse 
reaching to the base of the prothorax, free at their insertion, the two 
basal joints a little incrassated, the third and fourth gradually shorter, 
the rest to the ninth transverse, the tenth and eleventh forming an 
elongate club, the eleventh especially produced; palpi somewhat fusi- 
form, pointed ; maxillary lobes with long cilia, the inner broader and 
shorter; mentum nearly semicircular, labium minute, paraglosse (?) 
ciliated; prothorax a little broader than the head, subquadrate, con- 
