228 Memoirs on the Coleoptera 



separated from the head by an evident depression. Antennae at 

 basal third, long and slender; the funicle is loosely jointed and 

 slender, the first three joints all elongate and very rapidly diminish- 

 ing in length, the first about as long as the club, which is abrupt, 

 rhombic-oval and as long as the three preceding joints, the sutures 

 deep, the first segment rather large and feebly pubescent, the 

 remainder conical and with fine dense gray hairs. The anterior 

 coxae are widely separated — by rather more than their own width, 

 and in the male there are two moderate, oblique and somewhat 

 twisted spines, separated by a deep circular well. The legs are 

 coarsely punctured, the femora not swollen. The prothorax is 

 abruptly tubulate at apex, the scutellum rather small, free and 

 obtriangular, nude and feebly impressed along the middle, the elytra 

 very coarsely grooved; the entire surface is coarsely sculptured, 

 dull and virtually glabrous. The type is the following: 



Melampius conifer n. sp. — Oblong-suboval, rather convex, with large prothorax, 

 black, dull in lustre; beak cylindric, smooth, about as long as the elytra, evenly 

 and distinctly arcuate, slightly flattened and strongly punctured at the sides of 

 the base just before the eyes; antennae very slender, black; prothorax fully a 

 third wider than long, the sides parallel and scarcely arcuate, gradually rounded 

 and strongly converging beyond about the middle to the tubulation, which is 

 rather more than two-fifths as wide as the base; surface nude, coarsely but loosely 

 punctate, the interspaces dull; basal lobe gradual and evenly rounded; elytra 

 triangular, a little longer than wide, but slightly wider than the prothorax and 

 one-half longer, the oblique sides broadly and moderately arcuate, the apex 

 somewhat strongly rounded; humeri slightly prominent; surface feebly shining, 

 the very coarse and strongly punctured grooves, laterally, as wide as the intervals, 

 but inwardly much narrower, the intervals with single series of coarse and close- 

 set punctures, bearing very minute squamules, the base of the second with a loose 

 cluster of pale squamules, the base of the fourth also with a few; coarse and close 

 punctures of the under surface each with a minute squamule; abdomen (cf) 

 with a distinct impression along the middle basally, the impression not differently 

 clothed or punctured. Length 5.8 mm.; width 3.2 mm. Brazil (Chapada — 

 campo). December. One specimen. 



This is one of the more isolated and remarkable of the Brazilian 

 Barids. 



Brachygeraeus n. gen. 



Although two of the essential characters of Gerceus — relating to 

 the mandibles and antennae — are virtually repeated in this genus, 

 there are so many peculiarities of structure in the three species 

 forming what I have called Brachygercens, that there can be little 

 or no question of generic difference. In Gerans, for instance, the 

 prosternum has a deep and very pronounced subapical transverse 

 constriction, and the beak is not or only very slightly flattened 

 distally, the body is not briefly oval in form but elongate-sub- 

 rhombic, and the vestiture does not consist of rather broad, parallel 



