314 Mr. A. Murray on Coleoptera from Old Calabar. 



struck me as singular was, that these threads did not all float in 

 the same direction, as though drifted from the animal by wind or 

 tide, but, although they were several feet long, they formed three 

 or four distinct bundles, which stretched straight out in different, 

 and often opposite, directions from the body of the animal, from 

 which it appeared that they were propelled by a voluntary 

 effort. 



In passing through Banka Strait, owing to the number of 

 rivers (Palembaug and others) which flow out of the island of 

 Sumatra, the water had only seven -tenths of the saltness of 

 the ocean ; but notwithstanding this comparative freshness, I 

 observed a number of large white Rhizostomas floating just 

 below the surface, apparently unaffected by this peculiar con- 

 dition. 



XLI. — List of Coleoptera received from Old Calabar, on the West 

 Coast of Africa. By Andrew Murray, F.L.S. 



[Continued from p. 95.] 



Lymexylonidse. 



Atractocerus, Palis. Beauv. 



Atractocerus africanus, Boh. Ins. Caffr. i. 520. 



A single specimen. 



I have not seen any typical specimen of Bohcman's A. afri- 

 canus; but mine agrees perfectly with his description, and differs 

 from the well-known A. necydaloides of Latreille in the parti- 

 culars which Boheman points out. " At first sight,'' says he, 

 "very similar to A. necydaloides, but is well distinguished from 

 it by the head being ovate, the thorax longer, narrower, oblong- 

 quadrate, and without a reflexed margin behind.'' 



It would appear to range across Africa, and also into Mada- 

 gascar; for I have seen specimens (probably A. rnadagascariensis 

 of Castelnau) from that country which did not differ from this 

 Old-Calabar species. 



Melittomma*, nov. gen. (See fig. 1, p. 316.) 



Hylocoeto similis, sed magnis oculis sine ocellis et thorace elon- 

 gate. 



Habit and facies similar to those of Hylocoetus ; the antennae 

 imbricated strongly in the male, subserrated in the female ; the 

 palpi as in Atractocerus ; the head with very large eyes, as in 

 Atractocei'us, covering the whole sides of the head and nearly 



* From fjLiXiTra, a bee, and o/i/xa, ua eye, — bee-eyed. 



