314 Mr. T. V. Wollaston on the Coleoptera of St. Helena. 



species described below, to have organs for slight stridulation ; 

 and its prothorax is apparently entire in both sexes (for as it 

 is so in 15 males which are now before me, we may conclude 

 hforttm-i that this is equally the case in the opposite sex) ; and 

 its anterior male tibise are not enlarged as in Cheiroplatys. 

 The Mellissii are practically apterous, their wings being very 

 small and rudimentary, and they seem to be eminently fossorial. 

 In its simple (or unimpressed) prothorax the genus agrees 

 with the European and African group Pentodon ; but, apart 

 from other differences, the members of the latter have their 

 organs for stridulation exceedingly conspicuous, occupying, 

 however, the central part only of the propygidium. 



I have had much pleasure in retaining for the present genus 

 the name proposed for it by Mr. Bates — in honour of J. C. 

 Melliss, Esq., who has supplied the greater portion of the 

 material for this memoir, and to whose researches we are con- 

 sequently indebted for the additional light which has been 

 thrown upon the small but highly interesting fauna of St. 

 Helena. 



21. Mellissius eudoxtcSj n. sp. 



M. crassus, subqiiadrato-ovatus, rufo-piceus, nitidus ; capite grosse 

 niguloso-punctato (fere scabroso), clypeo lato subtriangulari 

 apice truncate et ibidem paulo recurvo lateribus anguste margi- 

 nato ; prothorace magno, convexo, grosse pimctato, angulis anticis 

 subporrectis acutiusculis, posticis rotundato-obtusis, ad latera 

 rotundato, in medio vix subangulato, longe fulvo-ciliato ; elytris 

 subquadratis sed pone medium latiuscuHs, apice subtruncato-ab- 

 breviatis (angubs suturalibus paulo rotundatis), propygidium 

 transversum sublfeve (mucronibus valde transversis pei'paucis 

 solum in medio parcissime adspersum) omnino occultantibus, 

 grosse Bubmalleato-punctatis (punctis sat profundis et pei'paucis 

 quasi in sulcis obsoletissimis undulatis evanescentibus, praeter 

 sulcum suturalem rectum, obsolete dispositis) ; pedibus robustis, 

 fossoriis, fulvo-pilosis. 



Mas clypeo postice in medio obsolete tuberculato (vix cornuto). 



Fcejn. adhuc latet. 



Long, coi-p. lin. 7-8|. 



Scarabccus eudoxus, in Dej. Cat. 108 (1837). 



Although small for the Bi/nnsftdce, tliis species and the fol- 

 lowing one are the largest of the Lamellicorns Avhich have 

 hitherto been detected at St. Helena ; and whik' botli of them 

 may be known by their thick, ovate-squarish bodies (they 

 being rather widened posteriorly), their bald though sculptured 

 upper surfaces, their strong fossorial ciliated legs, and their 

 rufo-piceous colour, the M. eudoxus (which is, on the average, 

 a trifle smaller than the adnmhratns) is further conspicuous bv 



