203 Mr. T. V. Wollaston on certain Coleoptera 



piled appears to be identical with one which I have received 

 from M. Deyrolle of Paris as the Heterophaga ovata of Dejean *. 

 It is also congeneric with a closely allied species w^hich I have 

 taken in the Canary Islands, and which I lately transmitted to 

 Prof. Lacordaire, for his opinion on its affinities, with the ob- 

 servation that it was very nearly akin to the former. In reply 

 to my remarks, he writes as follows : — 



" Vous avez parfaitement reconnu la place de cet insecte. II 

 appartient en effet ^ ce groupe dont j^ai parle (p. 269) dans les 

 notes relatives au genre Opatrum, en citant, comme en faisant 

 partie, VHeterophaga ovata de Dejean dont vous me parlez. 

 C^est done aussi un genre nouveau du groupe des Opatrides 

 vrais." The "note" to which M. Lacordaire refers, in the 5th 

 vol. of his ' Genera des Coleopteres,' is this : " II existe dans les 

 collections toute une suite d'especes Africaines, de forme brieve- 

 ment ovale, qui ont besoiu d^etre examinees pour voir si elles 

 pourront rester parmi les Opatrum dont elles semblent presenter 

 tous les caracteres. L'une d'elles du Senegal, dont les jambes 

 anterieures sont finement denticulees, a ete placee par Dejean 

 (Cat. ed. 3. p. 220) dans les Heterophaga, sous le nom de H. 

 ovata." 



The almost undilated anterior tibise of the Halonomi, the 

 outer edge of which is perfectly edentate f, in conjunction with 

 other details of their structure, show them to be properly referred 

 to the " Opatrides vrais ;" nevertheless from the Opatra proper 

 they are abundantly distinct, being not only shorter, more oval, 

 less sculptured, and more convex, but having likewise their legs 

 less robust, and their anterior tibiae produced at their outer 

 apical angle into a little spine. Their antennae, also, are rather 

 more clavate at the apex than those of the Opatra, their upper 

 lip is entire in front, their prosternal lobe is a little more deve- 

 loped and less deflexed (being in fact horizontal, and at its ex- 

 treme point even suberect), their mesosternum is triangularly and 

 sharply cut-out in the centre (instead of being simply concave), 

 whilst the construction of their ligula and mentum (as will be at 

 once gathered from the diagnosis) is altogether different. They 



* The H. ovata of Dejean's Catalogue is registered as coming from 

 Senegal, whereas M, DeyroUe's specimen is marked as Sicilian. I suspect, 

 however, that there must be some mistake as regards the latter, and that 

 Dejean's habitat is correct ; for it is certainly more probable that the Cape 

 de Verde insect is conspecific with one from Senegal than with one from 

 Sicily. 



t Prof. Lacordaire, in the " note " above quoted, states that the H. ovata 

 has its anterior tibiae finely denticulated ; but I confess I am unable to 

 perceive in my specimens this structure. The tibiae are very strongly setu- 

 lose, and the inner apical angle is produced, but the external edge appears 

 to me to be simple. 



