328 Mr. G. C. Champion on the 



Prionocerus. 

 Prionocerus, Perty, Obs. Coleopt. ludiae Orient, p. 33 (1831). 



This genus, type P. coeruleipennis, Perty, a common 

 Malayan insect, is here restricted to the species with tlie 

 antennre short and very strongly serrate, and the apical 

 joint deeply excavate, in the two sexes. P. bicolor, Redt., 

 belongs to it, and possibly one or two other Asiatic forms 

 not represented in the collections before me. The two 

 mentioned have a different general facies from the typical 

 Idgice, due to their small, narrow head and short, strongly 

 serrate antennae. 



1. Prionocerus coeruleipennis. 



Prionocerus coeruleipennis, Perty, Obs. Coleopt. Ind. p. 33, t. 1. fig. 4 



(1831); Bourg. Ann. Soc. Ent, Fr. 1890, p. 175; Gorb. Ann. Soc. 



Ent. Belg. xxxix. p. 318 (1895). 

 2 . Prionocerus fuscipennis, Lewis, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (5) iv. 



p. 464 (1879). 

 cJ. Priojiocerus forticornis, Scbauf. Horai Soc. Ent. Eoss. xx p. 126 



(1887). 

 $ . Prionocerus brevicornis, Scbauf. 1. c. 



(J . Anterior tarsal joints 1-3 with a comb along their inner 

 edge. Genital armature (PI. XI. fig. 1): lateral lobes very 

 long, narrow and somewhat hooked at the tip ; median lobe 

 broad, abruptly acuminate and sinuate at apex. 



Hab. India; Burma; Malayan Region generally; 

 Andaman Is.; Japan ; E. Africa, Usagara (S. A. Neave), 

 Usambara {Mus. Brit.) ; Australia (sec. Scluiufuss). 



Bourgeois gives the sexual characters of this species at 

 considerable length, but he omitted to notice the structure 

 of the c? anterior tarsi. The elytra vary in colour — blue, 

 violaceous, or green, rarely seneo-fuscous. The two forms 

 named by Schaufuss, already sunk as synonyms by Bour- 

 geois, are from the Philippines and Macassar respectively. 

 P. fuscipennis, Lewis, from Yokohama, is an immature ? , 

 with the elytra more obscurely coloured than usual, some 

 specimens from Borneo and Manila in the British Museum 

 being similar in that respect. A monstrosity, J , with three 

 anteunse and distorted elytra, has been figured and described 

 by Keyl (Tijdschr. voor Ent. Ivi. pp. 1-12, pis. 1, 2, 1913). 

 P. cceruleipennis has doubtless been introduced into E. Africa. 

 About 200 examples are contained in the collections before 

 me. 



