OPATBUM MICANS. 19 



This beetle is usually found covered with a coating of 

 mud, which the rough setiferous surface renders very 

 difficult to remove; in its earthy clothing it would 

 scarcely be recognized from the above description, as 

 the colour and punctation is entirely hidden. 



The genus Psammodes belongs to the subfamily Molu- 

 rides, and is confined to Africa ; very little appears to 

 be known of their habits, although several species are 

 very common at the Cape. The general aspect of many 

 of the species is not unlike some of the Carabidce, but 

 in having only four joints to the posterior tarsi (hinder 

 pair of feet) they may be readily distinguished from that 

 family, in which all the tarsi are five-jointed. 0. E. J. 



Miss Glanville has sent this beetle for identification, 

 as " a Mealie pest received from Albany in 1885." 



OPATRUM MICANS, Germ. (Fig. 10.) 

 Opatrum micans, Germar, Ins. Spec. Nov. p. 145. 



FIG. 10. Opatrum micans, magnified and nat. size. 



Injurious to Carrot-roots and Potato-leafage. 



Elongate-ovate, somewhat depressed, dull brownish 

 black, and closely covered with short depressed brownish 

 grey hairs. The head is short, broad, flat and closely 

 covered with confluent punctures; there is a slight, 

 curved, transverse impression in front of the eyes, and 

 the front of the clypeus has a deep central notch ; the 

 antennae are nearly twice as long as the head, and 

 gradually thickened towards the apex ; the seven basal 



n 2 



