Mr. A. Murray on Coleoptera from Old Calabar. 37 



2. H. Iris, mihi. 

 Nigro-piceus, subnitidus; labro, antennis, palpis pedibusque 

 flavo-testaceis ; capite polito, impunctato; thorace subqua- 

 drato, testaceo-marginato, supra sublsevi, antice leviter punc- 

 tate, basi fortius et crebre sed leviter rugoso-punctulato, 

 utrinque leviter impresso, angulis obtusis et rotundatis ; ely- 

 tris nigris, cyaneo-micantibus opacis, striatis, interstitiis pla- 

 nis, confertim punctatis, secundo seriatim remote punctate ; 

 subtus cseruleo-micans. 

 Long. 4 J lin., lat. 1| lin. 



One of the iridescent species. Piceous black, somewhat 

 shining, most so in front. Head smooth, impunctate, with a 

 punctiform fovea on each side between the autennse ; labrum, 

 antennae, and palpi testaceous yellow. Thorax flattish, somewhat 

 shorter than broad, subquadrate, narrowest and pretty deeply 

 emarginate in front, with the sides moderately rounded, most so 

 in front and very slightly behind, truncate at the base, anterior 

 angles slightly projecting, all the angles obtuse ; piceous, some- 

 what shining, with the margins translucent and testaceo-ferru- 

 ginous, the anterior portion faintly punctate, the base more 

 distinctly and somewhat rugosely punctate, slightly impressed 

 on each side ; dorsal line faint, abbreviated both in front and 

 behind ; the anterior semilunar arch well marked. Scutellum 

 small, impunctate and triangular. Elytra a little broader at 

 their base than the thorax, with their sides parallel for three- 

 fourths of their length, slightly sinuate at the apex, above flat- 

 tish with a rather rapid descent at the sides ; black, rather 

 opake and bright blue iridescent, striated, the interstices flat 

 (less so at the apex), closely punctate, with the punctures occa- 

 sionally running into each other, and with a series of remote, 

 deeper punctures on the inner side of the second stria, and also 

 a series of variolar punctm"es along the exterior margin, the 

 reflexed margins concolorous. Under side blackish piceous with 

 a bluish iridescence, paler in the centre and at the margins of 

 the segments and apex of the abdomen. Legs testaceous 

 yellow. 



When greasy, this species (as might be expected) loses its 

 iridescence. 



SioPELUS, mihi. 



(From crt&)7r7;Xo9, taciturn, in allusion to the smallness (almost 

 absence) of the ligula in the species on which I have founded 

 the genus.) 



Mentum profunde emarginatum, sine dente. Ligula minutis- 

 sima angustata, apice truncate. Paraglossse tenuissimge, ligula 



