170 Mr. G. C. Champion on the 



12. Melyris natalensis . 



Melyris natale7isis, Boh. Ins. Caffr. i. 2, p. 480 (1851). 



£ . Ventral segments 5 and 6 as in M. sulcicollis, Boh. 



Hab. S. Africa, Natal {type of Boheman) , Ulundi 

 Drakensburg (G. A. K. Marshall), Transvaal (Mus. Brit.), 

 Wakkerstroom, alt. 5700-6500 ft. [R. Crawshay). 



About a dozen specimens in the British Museum from 

 the above-quoted localities seem to be referable to M. nata- 

 lensis, which is said to have the elytral interspaces somewhat 

 regularly triseriate-punctate, the puncturing being finer, 

 closer, and more irregular in M. sulcicollis and not so coarse 

 as in M. lineata. The general colour is blue or bluish green, 

 and the legs are dark. The length varies from 4-6| mm. 



13. Melyris sulcicollis. 



Melyris interstitialis, Dej. Cat., 3rd edit. p. 125 (1836). 

 Melyris sulcicollis, Boh. Ins. Caffr. i. 2, p. 482 (1851). 



$ . Ventral segment 5 broadly, shallowly, 6 deeply, 

 arcuate-emarginate. 



Var. c, varipes, n. — Femora and tibiae partly or wholly 

 rufo-testaceous. [Transvaal.] 



Hab. S. Africa (Mus. Brit.), "River Gariep (type of 

 Boheman), Port Natal, Delagoa Bay, Natal (Mus. Brit.), 

 Durban, Ho wick (J. P. Cregoe), Barberton (P. Rendall: 

 var. b of Boheman), Orange River Colony (G. E. H. B. 

 Hamilton), Transvaal (H. Swale, A. Ross), Johannesburg 

 (A. J. Cholmley, Mus. Brit.), Zoutpansberg (W.L. Distant), 

 Pretoria (L. M. Bucknill). 



A very variable and abundant insect in Natal and the 

 Transvaal, recognizable amongst the small allied S. African 

 forms by the closely, irregularly, finely punctate elytral 

 interspaces. The colour may be green or greenish-aeneous 

 (type, Boh.), blue (var. a, Boh.), fusco-seneous (var. b, Boh.), 

 or cupreous, and- the femora and. tibiae are sometimes wholly 

 or in part testaceous (var. c, varipes). About eighty 

 specimens are contained in the collections before me, nearly 

 half of them belonging to the var. varipes, which is appa- 

 rently confined to the Transvaal ; the var. b. is represented 

 by 15 examples from Barberton, and the cupreous form by 

 two females from Delagoa Bay. The genital armature of the 

 red-legged form is similar to that of the black-legged type. 

 The puncturing of the elytral interspaces is much closer iu 

 some examples than in others, specimens occurring that 



