204 



Mr. Gr. C. Champion on the 



M. festiva. which is a broader insect, with a smoother, 

 brilliantly metallic prothorax. M. pectoralis is recognizable 

 amongst the allied Abyssinian forms by its elongate shape, 

 greenish or bine colour, with the legs, abdomen, and the 

 greater part of the antennae rufu-testaceons ; the short 

 head ; the transverse, laterally rounded, subquadrate, coarsely 

 punctured, sulcate prothorax, with a sharp sinuous lateral 

 carina ; and the elongate, subparallel, tricostate elytra, the 

 interspaces of which have about four rows of moderately 

 coarse punctures. The tarsal claws are long and sharply 

 toothed beyond the middle. M. htenwrrhoidalis seems to 

 have been based upon a blue example of the same species. 

 The length varies from 7-11 mm. A ? from Cheren, Eritrea 

 (Z). F. Derchi, 1894), in the Genoa Museum, with the ventral 

 segments black, except along the sides, may represent a new 

 form allied to M. pectoralis? 



61. Melyris parallela, sp.n. 



Elongate, parallel, the head and prothorax dull, the rest 

 of the surface more shining, almost glabrous above, thickly 

 clothed with pallid hairs beneath, the apex of the abdomen 

 fringed with long blackish hairs in both sexes ; green or 

 bluish-green, the prothorax in two examples cyaneous on the 

 disc and metallic green at the sides, the antennae (except 



Fur. 3. 



Melyris parallela, 6* • 



at the tip) and legs (except the infuscate tarsi in one 

 specimen), and the ventral segments wholly in £ , or at 

 the sides and apex only in $ , rufo-testaceous ; the head 

 and prothorax closely, rather coarsely umbilicate-punctate. 

 Head rather broad, short; antennae short; prothorax strongly 

 transverse, arcuately narrowed anteriorly, in <^ fully as broad 

 as the elytra, slightly narrower in ? , sulcate down the 

 middle, and depressed before the base, the hind angles 



