324 Memoirs on the Coleoptera 



it "beak," for the sake of brevity — and apical antennae of the male 

 and much shorter, more arcuate beak and very different antennae of 

 the female in Conoproctus — although there are also a number of 

 unrelated genera in the Barinae, in which the male beak is distinctly 

 longer than that of the female, but not to so extreme a degree as 

 in Conoproctus; or, again, the posteriorly conical and prominent 

 prolongation of the prosternum in Piperis. Most of the genera 

 have the tarsal claws long, strong, free and widely divergent, but in 

 a small group, as defined below, they become straight and basally 

 connate. The variations of mandibular form, which have been 

 taxonomically useful in the preceding tribes, are only of noticeable 

 value here in the non-pygidiate section mentioned above. In those 

 genera having the pygidium exposed, the mandibles seem to be of 

 less systematic importance. 



Only a few of the genera with exposed pygidium possess the male 

 prosternal spiniform processes so prevalent in the Centrinini, and 

 the presence of these processes in the first section, having concealed 

 pygidium, as defined below, is another evidence of consanguinity 

 between them and the true Centrinids. In the latter tribe it often 

 happens that there may be species with or without these spines 

 within the same genus, and the division made below based upon 

 this character might therefore appear to be inconsistent or equivocal, 

 but as a matter of fact, there is such uniform absence of the spines 

 throughout the pygidiate genera, that a division on this score is 

 amply warranted, especially as it brings the very few genera having 

 spines in closer proximity to certain of the non-pygidiate genera, 

 with which they seem to be related in general habitus. 



Finally, it should be said that in the pygidiate Madarids the 

 canaliculation of the prosternum is a very rare character, when 

 contrasted with its prevalence in the preceding tribes, again indi- 

 cating the isolation of the Madarini as a tribal group of the Barinae. 



The numerous genera necessitated by the material at hand are 

 as follows: 



Pygidium concealed by the elytra in both sexes 2 



Pygidium exposed behind the elytra in both sexes 7 



2 — Mandibles prominent, more or less acuminate, closing along a straight line as 

 in Centrinaspis. Beak moderate, subulate, thickened basally, the antennae 

 generally behind the middle, with short and broadly oval club, having a 

 very large basal segment; prosternum broad, flat, unarmed in the male, the 

 coxae separated by fully one-half more than their width; sculpture varying 

 from very coarse to fine, the elytra with series of erect setae; claws long, free 



and diverging. [Type N. sculpticollis nov.] Notesia 



Mandibles prominent and non-decussate, with their inner edges straight but 



denticulate as in Nicentrus.. 3 



Mandibles bifid at tip, arcuate and decussate; claws free and divergent 4 



3 — Tarsal claws free and divergent; body small, clothed closely with slender stiff 

 setae, erect and bristling in part and especially on the elytra; beak rather 



