76 PHTSIMERUS. 



length of the insect 2-2 lin. ; the other, in which the thorax is 

 quadrate, and the length 1J lin. At first sight they appear to be 

 decidedly different species ; more careful examination, however, fails 

 in detecting any real distinctive characters except these ; and these 

 fail as a specific distinction from the fact that there are intermediates 

 both in size and form, and that the quadrate thorax and the smaller 

 size are not always found together in the same example. 



Apparently a common insect in Brazil. In the cabinets of Messrs. 

 Fry, Baly, Gray, and the Rev. H. Clark. Examples of this species 

 were captured by Mr. Gray and myself at Constancia (the English 

 boarding-house of Mr. Heath, Organ Mountains), January 1857. 



7, Physimerus agilis. 



P. oblongus, subparallelus, robustus, niger ; capite transverso, sub- 

 elongatulo, punctato, fusco ; thorace quadrato, rectangularly ad 

 basin obsolete transverse depresso, punctato, rufo-testaceo ; elytris 

 sat latis, subparallelis, punctato -striatis ; antennis Jiliformibus, 

 robustis ; pedibus rufis, fusco suffusis, femoribus posticis nigro- 

 fuscis. 



Long. corp. 2J lin., lat. 1 lin. 



Oblong, somewhat depressed, subparallel, robust, of a greenish- 

 black or black colour. Head transverse, short, depressed, hardly 

 elongated in front ; between the eyes (extending upwards on either 

 side in a semicircular form towards their upper and inner margins) is 

 a transverse shallow fovea, which is connected medially by a longitu- 

 dinal channel with the space between the insertion of the antennae ; 

 eyes distinct, slightly prominent and distant, situate at the base of 

 the head ; surface of the head punctate and fuscous. Thorax qua- 

 drate, rectangular ; sides slightly marginate, and (when viewed la- 

 terally) gradually deflected from the humeral angles to the outer and 

 lower margins of the eyes ; at the base is an almost obsolete trans- 

 verse depression ; the surface is punctate throughout and rufo-testa- 

 ceous. Scutellum triangular, fuscous. Elytra tolerably broad and 

 subparallel, distinctly punctate-striate, with a broad and obsolete 

 antemedial transverse depression, very darkly fuscous or nearly black. 

 Antennae, filiform, short, robust ; the first joint dilated and slightly 

 deflected outwards ; the second short and ovate (but somewhat longer 

 than in P. ambiguus) ; the third narrower than the others and longer 

 than the first : a tendency to dilatation is evident in the ultimate 

 joints. Legs rufous, marked more or less on their upper surface with 

 a darker shade of brown ; posterior femora very darkly fuscous; on the 

 inner margin of the claws the spur is large and distinctly visible ; the 

 bladder-like inflation of the posterior claw darkly and brightly red. 



