24 Dr. Malcolm Burr’s Revision of the Genus Diplatys. 
gradually dilated, in which case the last segment is feebly 
inflated ; in others, the dilation is scarcely pronounced, 
the last dorsal segment being not inflated at all. The 
branches of the forceps may be remote at the base and 
arcuate, or subcontiguous and nearly straight; they 
may be depressed or trigonal. In some cases they are 
strongly dilated at the base itself, as well as flattened, 
thus reminiscent of the Forficuline type of forceps. 
All these above-mentioned characters are peculiar to 
the males; in the females, the structure of the head is 
simple and not specialised, the apex of the abdomen not 
dilated, and the forceps invariably contiguous and simple. 
The number of described species has been so much 
augmented in recent years, that what were formerly con- 
sidered to be dimorphic forms of the male are probably 
to be considered distinct species. It is obvious that the 
characters given by de Bormans are quite valueless, for 
the species were discriminated by him by colour alone. 
The form of the penultimate ventral segment is very 
difficult to describe in words, and often hard to distinguish 
with the eye. ‘The figures illustrate these diverse forms 
better than any words can ‘do. 
TABLE OF SPECIES. 
1. Forcipis bracchia ¢ basi valde dilatata 
ac deplanata. 
2. Segmentum ultimum dorsale ¢ 
fortiter dilatatum, abdomine valde 
latius ; forceps abrupte attenuatus. 
3. Elytra vix longiora quam latiora ; 
alae abortivae ; species indica . 1. gladiator, Burr 
3.3. Elytra valde longiora quam 
latiora ; alae perfecte expli- 
catae. 
4. Segmentum penultimum ven- 
trale ¢ subquadratum, postice 
haud angustatum, medio haud 
impresso ; species africana . 2. macrocephalus, Beauv. 
4.4, Segmentum penultimum ven- 
trale ¢ postico subangusta- 
tum, medio impresso ; species 
fiedicay “(Oli Uo) bee. Wr Folens! porn 
