Classification of the Coleopterous family Bijnastidoe. 335 



called. Burmeister, iu his description of Pldletirus vervcx, 

 has included two species, the characters of the male being 

 taken from one and those of the female from the other. 

 The P. vervcx of Dejean's Catalogue is an Argentine species 

 and is peculiar for its very prominent smooth pygidium. 

 It is this which Burmeister has described as the male. 

 The female has the pygidium equally prominent and 

 smooth, but its ventral part is slightly excavated, forming 

 an overhanging ridge above, and the last ventral segment, 

 as usual in the Dynastidse, is broader and not emarginate 

 at the apex as in the male. There is another species, 

 occurring in Brazil, Guiana, Bolivia, Peru, etc., which 

 closely resembles the Argentine form but has a flatter 

 and more deeply grooved prothorax, the groove not 

 "widening into a large fossa in the male, as it does in 

 the other species. The pygidium is only moderately con- 

 vex and is very coarsely and thickly pitted in both sexes. 

 This form has been described by Burmeister as the female 

 of P. vervcx. I desire to rename it — 



PMleurus Burmeisteri, sp. n. 



I prefer to apply the name of P. vervex to the Argen- 

 tine species, although Burmeister has quoted the habitat 

 of the other alone, because the name was first given (by 

 Dejean) to an insect from Buenos Ayres, and because 

 Burmeister has described both sexes of that species 

 although mistaking the females for males of minor 

 development. 



My type of P. Burmeisteri is from Rio Janeiro. 



The new genus which follows is necessazy for an isolated 

 and interesting African species as yet undescribed. It 

 belongs to the Cyclocephalina3, one of the most character- 

 istic Tropical American groups of beetles, of which it forms 

 the only known representative in Africa. Like others of 

 that group it very closely approaches the Rutelidai both in 

 appearance and structure. 



RUTELORYCTES, ncw genus. 



Form elongate, not very convex, with rather slender legs. Clypeus 

 large, broad in front and not toothed. Head entirely unarmed. 

 Labrum concealed, hardly corneous. Mandibles small, simple, not 

 produced or notched. Maxillaj almost naked, armed at the inner 

 edge with 6 long and sharp teeth : palpi moderately long. Labium 



