Coleoptera of Japan. 59 



I have little doubt, from Faust's remarks, that this is 

 the species referred to by him, I. c, as R. congener, but 

 it is not the R. congener- of Jekel, of which typical 

 examples are in our national collection and my own 

 collection (from coll. Saunders) ; thus it seems possible 

 that the species may be in want of a description : this I 

 do not make at present, as the Japanese examples before 

 me vary so much that it is possible there may be more 

 than one species amongst them ; but the small series, — 

 mostly females, — does not guide me to a conclusion. 

 That the beautiful insect described by M. Eoelofs as 

 R. regalis is the same species as the larger green 

 examples (congener, Faust) is not even quite certain to 

 me, though it is clear that the colour is not of importance 

 in distinguishing it. Under these circumstances I prefer 

 not interfering with the nomenclature. 



By discus venustus. 



Rhynchites venustus, Pascoe, Ann. N. H. (4), xv., 1875, 



p. 393. 

 R. haroldi, Eoelofs, C R. Soc. Ent. Belg., xxii., p. liii; 



and Ann. Soc. Ent. Belg., xxiv., p. 17. 



This beautiful insect is extremely variable in the 

 colour of the upper surface, and some of its examples, 

 at first sight, apjjear almost similar to B. motschoidskyi, 

 but B. venustus may always be distinguished by the 

 purple-violet colour of the under surface, legs, and 

 scutellum. I have little doubt R. haroldi, Eoelofs, is 

 this species, although it would be inferred from his 

 remarks as to the male characters, that the sex in 

 question is destitute of thoracic spines : — " La dent des 

 hanches, chez le male, que je n'ai observee chez aucun 

 autre Rhynchites, constitute le caractere le plus re- 

 marquable de cette espece. Elle parait remplacer, dans 

 une certaine mesure, les epines si communes chez les <? 

 d'autres especes du genre,"' /. c, p. 18. This, however, is 

 erroneous ; the tubercle on the coxae is not sexual, but is 

 specific, existing in the female as well as in the male. 

 Moreover, it is present in other species of the genus ; 

 extremely slight in B. betuleti, so that it can only be 

 detected by a careful examination ; it is well-marked in 

 B. niotscJioulskyi, and strongly prominent in B. regalis, 

 Boelofs. The discovery of this character is due to 



