172 Mr. G. C. Champion on the 



punctures. Ventral segments closely, finely punctate, 

 5 slightly depressed in the centre. Tarsal claws long, 

 sharply toothed beyond the middle. 



Length 12, breadth 5 mm. 



Hab. S.E. Africa, Umfuli in S. Rhodesia (G. A. K. 

 Marshall: ix. 1895). 



Oue female. Extremely like some of the examples of M. 

 pallidiventris, Pic, from Itigi, but with five series of closely 

 packed punctures on the intercostal spaces of the elytra. 

 The legs are similarly coloured in the two forms, the black 

 tibiae separating both of them from M. incompleta. The 

 localities for M. pallidiventris and M. quinqueseriala are so 

 far distant that the insects from these places are scarcely 

 likely to be conspecific. 



W. and W. Central African forms. 



a. Elytral interspaces seriato-punctate *. 



a'. Abdomen (except in No. 18) and legs red or partly red. Nos. 16-18. 

 b'. Abdomen (except at tip) and legs metallic or infuscate. No. 19. 

 c'. Abdomen metallic, femora testaceous ; elytra very 



coarsely punctured and antennae rather elongate . . No. 20. 



b. Elytral interspaces transversely plicate ; abdomen red 



or red at tip Nos. 21-23. 



16. Melyris congoensis, sp. n. 



Closely resembling M. pallidiventris, Pic (No. 34) : cseru- 

 leous, violaceous, or green, the antennal joints 1-4, legs (the 

 infuscate apices of the tarsi excepted), and abdomen (the 

 terminal segment of ? excepted) rufo-testaceous ; finely 

 pubescent above, clothed with long pallid hairs beneath, the 

 tip of the abdomen of $ fringed with long fulvous, and that of 

 $ with black, hairs. Elytra a little more elongate, tricostate, 

 the interspaces with 4-5 rows of closely-packed punctures. 



$ . Metasternum along each side of the median channel 

 and posterior trochanters thickly fulvo-villose ; ventral seg- 

 ments 5 and 6 and median lobe of the sedeagus much as in 

 M. pallidiventris. 

 , Length 10^-13, breadth 4J-5 } t mm. (<y ? .) 



Hab. W. Central Africa, Congo region : Luluabourg, 

 Kasai, Hemptinne — St. Benoit (Mas. Congo Beige). 



Three males and six females from the Belgian Congo, 

 differing in the above-mentioned particulars from M. pallidi- 

 ventris, require a distinctive name. The long series of the 

 allied forms before me show but little variation in the colour 

 of the tibiae, the latter being rufo-testaceous in the present 



* Also transversely plicate in Nos. 17 and 19. 



