82 PHYSIMERUS. 



Var. A ( c? ). Elytris fuscis vel cyaneo-fuscis, vitta ad suturam 

 flava. 



Var. B (plerumque $ ). Elytris fere fulvis vel fiavo-fulvis, hand 

 ad suturam vel marginem vittatis. 



Long. corp. 21 tin., lat. | 1 tin. 



Oblong, subdepressed, robust, somewhat pubescent, black. Head 

 short, transverse, deflected anteriorly, with a shallow transverse de- 

 pression extending from the insertion of the antennae to the upper 

 and inner margins of the eyes ; eyes slightly prominent, distant, ex- 

 tending laterally as far as the anterior angles of the thorax ; surface 

 of the head thickly and coarsely punctured, rufo-ferrugineous. Thorax 

 transverse ; the sides parallel and marginate : when viewed laterally, 

 the margin ation is deflected from the humeral angles to the outer 

 and posterior margin of the eyes ; at the base is a subobsolete fovea, 

 which is expanded on either side into a more distinct and broader 

 depression : surface of the thorax clothed with very fine pubescence 

 (invisible except under a high power of the microscope), thickly but 

 finely punctured, flavous. Scutellum triangular, apparently clothed 

 with very fine cinereous pubescence. Elytra robust, subcylindrical, 

 punctate-striate, black, with a metallic tinge (in certain tights) of 

 blue : on either side of the suture, from the scutellum (where they 

 are confluent), are two regular longitudinal bands, separated from 

 the suture by a single stria, slightly increasing in breadth towards 

 the centre, and terminating in a point (at a greater distance from 

 the suture) near to the apex ; these bands are formed by a fine thick 

 velvet pubescence of pale cinereous colour, the surface of the elytra 

 below the pubescence being more or less distinctly luteous : from the 

 humeral angle, parallel to, but not approaching the margin, is another, 

 more obsolete band of pubescence, which reaches to, and clothes the 

 whole of, the extreme apex of the elytra ; this pubescence is of the 

 same colour as that of the sutural band, but on a bright black instead 

 of a luteous ground. Antennae, filiform, sufficiently robust, ferru- 

 gineous, with the fourth to the eighth joints fuscous ; the first joint 

 elongated, inflected outwards, and dilated towards its apex; the 

 second short, ovate ; the third and fourth of nearly equal length, 

 the latter being rather longer than the first. Legs flavous, with the 

 bladder-like inflation on the posterior claw bright red. 



The above description is taken from a male specimen (the third 

 and fourth joints of the antennas being distinctly more elongated as 

 well as attenuated than in other examples). The species is evidently 

 subject to great variation in colour : other examples of males have the 

 elytra much less decidedly black, with the sutural band of pubescence 



