456 Mr. G. C. Chanipion on 



elytra blue or bluisli-green, rugfulose, and rather closely 

 punctured; anterior tarsi simple, 5-jointed. 



$ . Antennfe short, rather slender, coloured as in ^ ; 

 head flattened, in some specimens slightly tumid l)etween 

 tlie eyes above, this tumid space depressed in the centre. 



Var. 1. Prothorax usually with four small black spots ; 

 head and antennae as in (J of //. hirtus ; head in ? with a 

 stout, transverse, mesially-interrupted ridi^e between the 

 eyes above. 



Hedyhius quadrimaculatus, Pic, L'Echauge, xix. p. 178 ( J $ ) (19'J3j ». 



Var. 2. Smaller, the head nioro-macnlate or black at the 

 base, the two black spots on the disc of the protliorax some- 

 times coalescent and forming a transverse patch, which is 

 produced into a dentiform projection in the centre behind, 

 the two basal spots constantly present ; the elytra less 

 uneven and more closely punctured; head and autenn?e 

 of ^ as in H. hirtus; coxse testaceous. (cJ ? .) 



? Hedybius simpUcifrons, Pic, Melanffes exot.-entom. xxv. p. 2 ( $ ) 

 (1917) «. 



Hah. S. Africa {Dr. Smith, in Mus. Brit.), Cape of 

 Good Hope * ^ *" " (coll. Fry ; Mus. Oxon. ; C. Darwin) , Pirie 

 Bush (Mus. Brit.), Saldanha Bay, Houwhoek, Caledon, 

 Giftsberg, Cape Town, Willowmore, Algoa Bay {Afus. Cape 

 Town), Rapenl)urg, Cape Flats, Ceres (R. E. Turner: x. 

 1920), Reeneu, Bedford [Mus. Durban). 



The males of this variuble insect, a long series of which is 

 before me, agree perfectly inter se in the structure of the 

 head ; but some of the larger females (from Pirie Bush, &c.) 

 exhit)it an unusual development of the vertex, whicli is 

 wanting in the type. The two additional spots on the pro- 

 thorax are evanescent, and those on the disc are sometimes 

 coalescent. The dorsal and ventral surfaces of the abdomen 

 are metallic. The type (?) of //. hirtus is contained in the 

 Banksian collection in the British Alusenm, and it is still in 

 a fair state of preservation. 



H. simpUcifrons, Pic, seems to be based upon a similar ? , 

 with the coxee testaceous. 



The Var. 2 is represented by o S S a-^itl ? ? ; it has 

 been found at Ceres, Cape Province, and at Houwhoek in 

 the Caledon district. 



