214 Mr. G. C. Champion on the 



73. Melyris bicolor. 



Melyris bicolor, Fabr. Syst. Eleuth. i. p. 311 (1801) l ; Baudi, Berl. 



ent. Zeitschr. 1873, p. 315 2 . 

 Zygia bicolor, Schilsky, Kiif. Europ. xxxiv. No. 92 ( J 9 ) (1897) 3 . 



" M. supra coerulescens, subtus ferrugineus. Statura omniuo M. 

 viridis, at minor. Caput coerulescens. Thorax utrinque linea 

 elevata coerulescens. Elytra punctata, lineis tribus elcvatis 

 exterioribus sensim abbreviatis. Corpus cum pedibus rufum." 

 (Fabr.) 



cJ. Basal joint of intermediate tarsi unarmed ; ventral 

 segments 3-5 with a transverse, oblique, fulvo-pubescent 

 depression on each side, 5 broadly, feebly emarginate at 

 apex, 6 almost smooth and without definite depressions. 



Hab. Egypt, Cairo l (Mus. Genoa: $ ); Syria 2 ; Arabia, 

 Hedjaz (Millingen, ex coll. Sharp : <^). 



M. bicolor, as restricted by Baudi and Schilsky, has the 

 entire under surface (the metasternal side-pieces wholly or 

 in part in both sexes, and the sixth ventral segment in ? , 

 excepted) fulvous ; the elytral costre are rather feeble, being 

 almost obsolete (as in M. fulvipes, Reich e) in a £ from 

 Hedjaz in the Sharp collection. The <$ tarsal and abdominal 

 characters, and the less prominent elytral costse, separate 

 M. bicolor from M. Magi, Baudi. There are three females 

 of the Fabrician insect in the Genoa Museum. 



74. Melyris oblonga. 



Zygia oblonga, Fabr. Syst. Ent. p. 126 (1775) ; Schilsky, Kiif. Europ. 

 xxxiv. No. 94 (d ?)(1897). 



$ . Ventral segments 3-5 with a transverse, linear, fiavo- 

 pubescent, depressed space on each side, 5 and 6 emarginate 

 at apex, G bi-im pressed. 



Hab. Mediterranean Region; Algeria: Asia Minor; 

 Arabia; Mesopotamia: Persian Gulf, Fao [W. E. 

 Cumming : v. 1891). 



A widely distributed insect, females largely preponderating 

 in the series examined. The elytra vary in colour — viola- 

 ceous, blue, or black — and the scutcllum and elytral margins 

 are sometimes red ( = var. mulsanti, Schilsky), or the epi- 

 pleura red (var. limbata, Pic) . The plicate ventral segments 

 in $ separate M. {Zygia) oblonga from all the similarly 

 coloured forms except M. {Zygia) rcitleri, Heyd., from 

 Tripoli, which does not seem to be represented in the 

 material before me. 



