Africa)) and Asiatic Species o/'Melyris. 177 



tlic abdomen rufous or testaceous, except at the base, the 

 sixth segment black in $ . The tarsal claws are armed with 

 a long tooth near the base. The lateral margins of the pro- 

 thorax and the inferior margins of the elytra are crenulate, 

 and the elytra themselves are coarsely, irregularly, trans- 

 versely plicate and tricostate. There are also specimens in 

 the British Museum labelled " C. Bon. Spei " and "Mada- 

 gascar/' but no reliance can be placed on these localities. 

 The length varies from 10-13 mm. Two males have been 

 dissected. Olivier's description appears to have been made 

 from specimens in the British Museum, and, following 

 Fabricius, he gives " Ind. Or." as the habitat. 



22. Melyris elongata. 

 Zygia elongata, Pic, Le Naturaliste, 1897, p. 124. 



<$ . Antennal joints 5-10 each with a long, and 4 with a 

 shorter, pilose ramus; ventral segment 5 broadly hollowed 

 at apex, 6 testaceous, convex in the middle and hollowed on 

 each side of this, emarginate at tip. 



? . Antennal joints 4-10 strongly dentate ; ventral seg- 

 ment 6 black, cleft. 



Hub. W. Africa, Benue on the Niger {type of Pic), 

 Gambia (Mits. Oxon.: $ $ ). 



Several specimens in the Oxford Museum are referred to 

 this species, both sexes of which would appear to have been 

 seen by Pic (to judge from his description of the variation 

 in colour of the apex of the abdomen). The antennae might 

 be described as flabellate or ramose in £ and broadly dentate 

 in ? . The Gambia examples are extremely like the variable 

 M. niyripes, and they have a similar transverse plication of 

 the elytral interspaces; but the elytra are relatively narrower, 

 the prothorax is strongly transverse, conspicuously silicate, 

 and coarsely umbilicate-puuctate. The colour varies from 

 violaceous to bluish green. 



23. Melyris bequaerti. 

 Zyyia bequaerti, Pic, Rev. Zool. Afric. iii. p. 158 (191.3). 



Hab. W. and Central Africa, Kikandja, Sankisia, 

 Belgian Congo {Dr. Bequaert : type), Lualaba River, alt. 

 2500-4000 ft., and Kambove, Katanga, air. 4000-5000 ft. 

 {S. A. Neave: iv., v., 1907). 



A form of the variable M. niyripes, Harold, with the basal 

 joints of the antennae, the femora, and tibiae, and sometimes 

 the tarsi also, and the abdomen in part or entirely, 



