African and Asiatic Species p/ Melyris. 165 



somewhat thickly clothed with adpressed whitish puhescence, 

 which is condensed into lines along the prothoracic and 

 elytral ridges, and also tends to form a ciliate posterior 

 margin to the ventral segments in each sex, the abdomen 

 also with long hairs at the tip ; the head and pro thorax 

 densely punctulate and reticulate. Head and antenna? short. 

 Prothorax transverse, gradually, arcuately narrowed an- 

 teriorly, sulcate, the lateral carina almost straight, the 

 margins obsoletely crenulate. Elytra much wider than the 

 prothorax, moderately long, sharply tricostate, the interspaces 

 feebly transversely wrinkled and rather coarsely triseriate- 

 pnnctate. Legs slender ; tarsal claws toothed beyond the 

 middle. 



S • Ventral segments 5 and 6 broadly arcuate-emarginate 

 at apex, 6 grooved down the middle. 



Length 4|-7, breadth 2-3 mm. (£ ? .) 



Hab. S. Africa (Dr. Andrew Smith, in Mus. Brit. : 1844), 

 Cape of Good Hope (Mus. Brit., Mus. Oxon.), Enon, Algoa 

 Bay {J. S. Duncan, 1835, in Mus. Oxon.). 



The above description is taken from four specimens (1 $ , 

 3 ¥ ¥ ) agreeing with Olivier's figure ; those in the Oxford 

 Museum ( ¥ ¥ ) are more or less injured or discoloured. 

 The type was from the cabinet of M. Lee, no locality being 

 given for the insect. It is the only S. African form to which 

 the name pubescens could be satisfactorily applied. The 

 metallic colour and whitish vestiture separate the present 

 species from the nearly allied M. nigra, P. The largest 

 female in the British Museum is labelled ciliatus, Oliv. 



6. Melyris lineata. 



Melyris lineatus, Fabr. Ent. Syst. i. p. 226 (1792) 1 ; Boh. Ins. Caffr. 



i. 2, p. 482 (1851) 2 (nee Oliv. Ent. ii. 21, p. 7, t. 1. fig. 6 *). 

 ? Melyris ciliatus, Oliv. Ent. ii. 26, p. 6, t. 2. figs. 11 a, b 3 ; Dixeyaud 



Long-staff, Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond. 1907, p. 374 4 . 



" Oblongo-ovata, convexa, viridi-senea, parum nitida, fusco-sericea ; 

 antennis nigris basi ferrugineis ; capite prothoraceque subtiliter 

 sat crebre reticulatis, hoc utrinque longitudinaliter carinato, 

 medio leviter canaliculato, Jbasi truncato ; elytris sexcostatis, 

 intcrstitiis profunde triseriatim punctatis, costis ante apicem 

 desinentibus. — Long. 5, lat. 2 millim." [Boheman.'] 



Hab. S.Africa {Mus. Oxon.), Grahamstown {ex coll. Fry, 

 in Mus. Brit.), Buffalo River, E. London 4 {Dr. G. B. Longstaff, 

 in Mus. Oxon. : 28. ix. 1905) ; " Caffraria meridionali " a {sec. 

 Boheman). 



* =Astylus (Anobium) lineatus, F., Syst. Ent. p. 62 (1775), from Brazil, 



