158 Mr, G. C. Champion on the 



of M. nigra, F., in the Banks collection at the British 

 Museum, is a South-African insect, which has heen wrongly 

 identified by modern writers, mainly owing to Fabricius 

 subsequently referring another species (from Tangier) to it. 

 Amongst the large number of forms here enumerated*, no 

 fewer than 18 are represented by females only in the material 

 before me, the males being as a rule very much rarer: of 

 one species, M. incomplete^ Fairm., upwards of 50 examples 

 have been examined, all females. The genera Melyris, type 

 M. viridis, F., from S. Africa, Zygia, type Z. oblonga, F., from 

 Syria, and Pseudozygia, type P. rubricollis, Pic, are treated 

 as synonymous, no character of sufficient value having been 

 detected by which to separate them. Melyris, it is true, has 

 a peculiarly formed sedeagus and long, loosely articulated 

 antennae in $ , and, if restricted to the forms possessing 

 these characters, it would include two species only, both 

 S. African. In that case the remainder, excluding those 

 with a non-carinate prothorax, would have to be placed 

 under Zygia, an arrangement followed by both Pic and 

 Schilsky. Pseudozygia is based upon Somaliland forms with 

 a very convex, red, non-carinate prothorax. M. gramdata, F., 

 and its allies, included by Schilsky under Melyris, require 

 a distinctive subgeneric or group name, and Melyridella is 

 here used for these insects, three of which are described in 

 the present paper. The American forms, all of small size, 

 placed under Melyris by Leconte, have unarmed tarsal claws, 

 non-costate elytra, &c, and they, again, require a separate 

 generic name. The tarsal claws (described as simple by 

 Lacordaire t) ar e toothed in all the Old "World forms, the 

 tooth varying in length and position according to the species, 

 but no use can be made of this character in grouping the 

 very numerous members of the genus. The sexes are easily 

 distinguished by the form of the terminal ventral segments 

 of the abdomen, which are described by Baudi and Schilsky. 

 In addition five Arabian or East-African species (including 

 M. klugi, Baudj) have the basal or second joint of the inter- 

 mediate, or the basal joint of the posterior, tarsi produced 

 into a spur or lobe in the males. The <$ genital armature 

 has been examined in a number of forms, but no very 

 important differences have been detected in the general 



* M. marginicollis, Ancey (?=co!laris, Fairm.), olivacea, Gue*r., sieboldi, 

 Gredl., semihirta, incostata, testaceipes, Fairm., limbata, ¥&CYns.,rubripes t 

 Luc, sinaila, obscuritarsis, rtibrolimbata, atrieeps f femoralii } and taborensis, 

 Pic, reitteri, Heyd., and longicollis, Schilsky, have not been found or 

 identified in the collections studied. 



t Gen. Coleopt. iv. p. 407 (1857). 



