MERION02DA. 173 



rows of short spines along the outer face and armed with a long 

 spiniform process at the apex. 



Lenr/t7i 10 ; breadth 2% mm. 



Hab. Southern India : Nilgiri Hills (H. L. Andrewes). 



187. Merionceda taprobanica, sp. n. 



$ . Testaceous yellow, with the exception of the antennae and 

 hind legs ; antennae brownish black, with the first joint somewhat 

 reddish, at the base ; hind legs black, with the peduncles of the 

 femora and the extreme base of the tibiae yellowish. Head nitid ; 

 feebly and sparsely punctulate near the eyes, almost im punctate 

 elsewhere ; clypeus limited above by two deep oblique impressions 

 that meet in the middle. Antennas reaching to the apex of the 

 elytra ; third and fourth joints subequal, each shorter than the 

 fifth ; fifth slightly, and the following joints more strongly, dilated. 

 Prothorax glossy, not longer than broad, narrowed anteriorly; 

 a small obtuse tubercle on each side, and three distinctly 

 raised tubercles on the disc the median one smaller and narrower 

 than the other two and separated from them by sulcate intervals 

 continuous with the deep groove crossing near the apex. The 

 elytra about two and a half times as long as the prothorax, dehisce 

 from about the middle of their length, and are strongly but not 

 very thickly punctured ; each with a short carina near the apex. 

 Hind femora with an abruptly formed, ovate, black club at the 

 apex ; hind tibiae with two rows of short spines along the dorsal 

 face, and a long spiniform process at the apex. 



Length (to tip of abdomen) about 8 mm. 



Hal>. Ceylon : Kandy (type in coll. G. Lewis). 



188. Merionceda nigriceps, White (Heliomaues), Cat. Col. B. M.. 



Longic. p. 181, pi. 5, fig. 1 (1855). 



$ . Testaceous yellow ; with the head, the distal seven joints of 

 the antennae, the tips of the elytra, the clavate portions of the 

 hind femora, and all but the bases of the hind tibiae, brownish 

 black. Head nitid, irregularly punctulate, the punctures thickly 

 placed near the eyes, very sparsely elsewhere ; clypeus separated 

 from the front by a deep impression. Antennae shorter than the 

 body ; third joint scarcely as long as the first or fourth ; fifth and 

 following joints slightly dilated. Prothorax broader than long, 

 obtusely tuberculate near the middle of each side ; feebly grooved 

 near the apex, the groove deflected backwards on the disc so as to 

 form two lines that separate a narrow, median, very feebly raised 

 area from two laterally placed tubercles. Elytra a little more 

 than twice as long as the prothorax, obtusely pointed at the apex, 

 strongly but not densely punctured. Clavate portion of hind 

 femora elongate-ovate or subf usiform, not so short nor so abruptly 

 formed as in M. indica ; hind tibiae with two rows of short spines 



