198 Mr. T. V. Wollaston on certain Coleoptera 



besides the two here recorded, include the O. blapsoides of Solier, 

 from Senegambia and the coast of Guinea) this structure is very 

 conspicuous ; but in three described by MM. Reiche and Saalcy 

 from Syria the prosternal point is said to be shorter and less evi- 

 dent (so that the sterna merely touch each other) ; and for these 

 they have retained Dejean^s generic title of Melancrus. The 

 distinctive differences, however, of these latter are so small, that 

 Lacordaire has suggested that they should not be employed for 

 more than sectional purposes. The 0, hegeteroides and pedi- 

 noides have no visible scutellum, and are remarkable, inter alia, 

 for the sides of their prothorax beneath being very coarsely 

 grooved or longitudinally strigulose. They are characterized in 

 Erichson's paper on the Coleoptera of Angola; but, from reasons 

 which have been already alluded to, it seems more than probable 

 that they have in reality nothing to do with Angola at all, but are 

 strictly peculiar to the Cape de Verdes. I subjoin the following 

 diagnoses of them, because those given by Erichson (perhaps from 

 the deficiency of specimens to judge from) are not quite correct, 

 and also fail in drawing attention to one or two of the most 

 differential features of the insects referred to. 



20. Oxycara hegeteroides, Erichs. 

 Oxycara hegeteroides, Erichs., iu Wiegm. Archiv, ix. 23(1 (18-J3). 



O. obovata, subdepressa, picea ; prothorace coleopteris angustiore, 

 postice ad latera subrecto, angulis posticis acutis, minutissime 

 punctulato ; antennarum articulo secuudo ttrtio vix latiore ; pedi- 

 bus longiusculis. 



Long. Corp. lin. 3-4. 



Taken in tolerable abundance by Mr. Gray and the Rev. 

 Hamlet Clark, during their day's sojourn at St. Vincent, in De- 

 cember 1856. In l)oth of these species (though especially the 

 present one) the head is closely and rather strongly punctulated, 

 the prothorax more finely so, and the elytra more minutely still. 



21. Oxycara pedinoides, Erichs. 

 Oxycara pedinoides, Ericlis., in Wiegm. Archiv, ix. 236 (1843). 



0. ovalis, subconvexa, nigra ; prothorace fere coleopterorum latitu- 

 dine, ad latera leviter rotundato, angulis posticis minus acutis, 

 versus latera distincte punctulato ; antennarum articulo secundo 

 sat fortiter clavato, crassiusculo, bveviusculo ; pedibus breviusculis. 



Long. corp. lin. 22-3i. 



Apparently very abundant at St. Vincent ; more so than the 

 preceding species. It was captured in profusion by Messrs. 

 Gray and Clark in December 1856, as also by my nephew, 

 Mr. F.W. Hutton, on the 11th of June, 1857, and subsequently 



