Mr. G. R. Waterhouse on Diphucephala. 215 



XLIV. Monograph on the Coleopterous Genus Diphuce- 

 phala, belonging to the Lamelliconies. By G. R. Wa- 

 terhouse, Esq., M.E.S., and Curator to the Zoological 

 Society of London. 



[Read 2nd November, 1835.] 

 Diphucephala, De Jean. Plate XXII. fig. 1 — 6. 

 Corpus oblongum : abdomen ventre valde convexo et fere gibbo : 

 clypeus antice profunde emarginatus : mandibulse breves, subar- 

 quatse : maxillce mandibuliformes, apice tridentatse : palpi maxil- 

 lares articulo basali brevi, articulo terminali robustiore, coniformi ; 

 mentum subtriangulare : antennae 8-articulatBe, clava triphylla : 

 tarsi maris antici articulis 4 primis dilatatis, subtus pubescentes. 



Obs. A narrow portion of the clypeus extends backwards on to 

 the eye, and in all the species I have examined is furnished with a 

 tuft of pale hairs. The prevailing colour of the species of this ge- 

 nus (which appears to be confined to Australia) is of a metallic 

 green, varying to shades of a brassy, golden, or copper-like hue. 

 The principal generic character consists in the deeply emarginate 

 clypeus, a character which at once distinguishes Diphucephala from 

 its allies, Serica, Macrodactyla, and other genera of the Phyllophaga 

 in which, like our present genus, the claws are bifid *. 



The twelve species of Diphucephala I have examined appear to be 

 allied to each other thus : 



D. SERICEA. 



Childrenii, 



HOPEI, 

 AFFINIS, 



Edwardsii, 

 splendens, 

 pulchella. 



PILISTRIATA, 

 CASTANOPTERA, 

 AURULENTA, 

 PARVULA. 



SpENCir. 



* It is worthy of observation that in this character, of the bifid claws, there 

 exists an analogous structure to that of the bees. The analogy is the more perfect 



r2 



