4380 Mr. Blandford on the Scolyto-platypini, 
Basilar piece of head coriaceous, fused with submentum, the limits 
of which are not discernible. Mentum attached to the base of a 
short triangular or transverse peduncle,* trapezoidal in the male, 
and twice as long as broad; narrow in the female, dilated at base, 
then constricted, and becoming wider up to the truncate apex, 
which bears the three-jointed labial palpi, their joints cylindrical, 
decreasing in width, first longer than broad, hairy on outer half, 
second transverse, hairy, third as long as broad. Ligula tongue- 
shaped, as wide as mentum at base, inserted behind its middle, and 
just reaching its apex, quite devoid of the usual hairs. Prothorax 
subquadrate or transverse, not declivous anteriorly, and smooth, 
in the female, with a conspicuous circular or oval pore (at the 
junction of the anterior and middle third), the opening of which is 
usually blocked; its lateral borders emarginate for the posterior 
half, so that the basal angles are prominent, the emargination 
sharply bordered, corresponding to a lateral depression to receive 
the anterior legs. The anterior border of the prothorax presents in 
the males a fine trace of a median notch, as seen more clearly in 
Scolytus, and is oblique, so that the prosternum is short; before 
the anterior coxe in the males is an excavation varying from a 
deep well-defined pit to a faint impression, probably for receiving 
part of the antenna, and a ridge which limits its lower border 
separates the flanks in front from the ventral surface. Anterior 
cotyloid cavities widely separated by a quadrate prosternum, the 
hind margin of which is prominent ; posteriorly they appear to reach 
the prosternal border, but the true cavity is situated away from 
the posterior border, and has behind it an excavation to receive part 
of the dilated coxe. Mesothorax short, transverse, narrower than 
upper part of episterna, which separate the lower part of the elytra 
from the prothorax, and extend back to meet the metasternum 
and form the outer border of the middle cotyloid cavities, cutting 
off the transverse epimera, which also meet the metasternum, 
being wider than the episterna of the latter. Mesonotum short, 
not carinate. Metathorax not elongate, grooved for anterior 
femora, its episterna rather narrow, subparallel. Abdomen with 
first two segments equal, sometimes slightly longer than third and 
fourth; fifth shorter than the two preceding ones, its hind margin 
* By the term mental peduncle, I denote a short triangular 
piece usually visible at the base of the Scolytid mentum, and 
serving for its attachment; sometimes, as in this group, it appears 
to be segmented off; sometimes, as in Tomicus sexdentatus, it is 
distinct, but continuous with the rest of the mentum. It is not 
homologous with the submentum, as defined by Lacordaire, for 
both often coexist in one species. It appears, hitherto, to have 
escaped description, even by Hichhoff, 
