the Coleopterous Genus Diphucephala. 225 



genus which have been examined by me amounts nearly to two 

 hundred*. 



Sp. 14. D. RUFIPES. 



D. viridis, nitida ; capite thoraeeque punctulatissimis : thorace supra 

 canaHculato : pedibus testaceis : tibiis anticis, tarsisque posticis 

 cyaneis ; tibiis anticis ad apicem obsolete bidentatis. 



Long. Corp. 3 lin. 



In Mus. D. MacLeay. 



Obs. This species is rather less than D. pilistriata : the head is 

 very finely and thickly punctured throughout : the clypeus in the 

 male is but slightly emarginate, and recurved ; the thorax is also 

 finely and thickly punctured throughout, and is very convex, glossy, 

 and sparingly covered with indistinct white hairs ; the dorsal chan- 

 nel is very narrow but rather deep. The lateral fovese are small ; 

 the elytra are short, punctured, the punctures confluent, and very 

 sparingly covered with white pubescence ; the hairs are so short as 

 to appear like dust, or very minute scales, rather than pubescence. 

 The scutellum is of the form of an equilateral triangle, and smooth. 

 The terminal segment of the abdomen is very long in the male, co- 

 vered with white scale-like hairs, and furnished at the apex with a 

 distinct tuft of hairs. The legs are of a pale reddish yellow colour ; 

 the hinder tibipe (with the exception of a small portion near the fe- 

 mora) and tarsi are black with a green or blue gloss ; the terminal 

 joint of each of the anterior tarsi and the claws are pitchy black ; the 

 anterior tarsi are bidentate externally ; the hinder tarsi are very long. 



There is a specimen in the collection of the Zoological Society 



* Some of the species described in this monograph may probably be the same as 

 those noticed by M. le Docteur Boisduval, in his " Faune Entomologique de 

 L'Oceanie;" but in the very loose descriptions there given the characters which I 

 have found essential to identify the species, are entirely overlooked ; indeed these 

 descriptions (where the size is not even mentioned) will do equally well in most 

 cases for almost any one of the genus. M. Boisduval says, at the end of the 

 descriptions, " II est meme probable que parmi celles que je viens de decrire, 

 il y en a plusieurs qui ne sont que des varietes." I must say I never examined a 

 group of insects in which good specific characters were so readily found. 



I very much question whether a synopsis of undescribed species of insects is de- 

 sirable, for the characters of these animals are seldom of such a nature as to admit 

 of their being expressed in few words ; species, then, which have been only briefly 

 noticed, must be re-described, and the person who takes upon him this task, in order 

 to avoid the introduction of synonyms, of course must consult these brief notices ; 

 here perhaps he finds that those characters, by which alone the species can be iden- 

 tified, are overlooked ; he must therefore give a new set of names to insects already 

 named, unless he has an opportunity of seeing the original specimens noticed in the 

 synopsis, a thing which perhaps he is not able to do. 



