Mr. G. J. Arrow on Melolontlune Coleoptera. 63 



? . The protliorax is witliout a median sulcus. It is not 

 finely lU^^ose, but stroii<;ly {)unctured, and clotlied with 

 grcyisli liair, longer but less dense than that of tiie male. 

 There are no scales. The elytra are more thinly clothed with 

 decumbent setai ot an almost uniform tawny colour. 



Length 4"0 mm. 



IJal). Burchell's eight specimens, all of which are accounted 

 for, were captured in flower.^, five of them at Uitenhage 

 (Nov. '28 and Dec. 1, 18113), and two between Kra Ka Kamma 

 and Van Stade's Kiver (Feb. 7, 1814), near (S.VV. of) 

 Uitenhage. Two from each locality are in the British 

 Museuu), but there is no means of associating these specimens 

 with their precise da'a. 



Types ( (^ and ? ) in British Museum. 



Tlie desciiptiou is based upon nos. 1303 and 1305 in the 

 British Museum. The specimen numbered 1308 is rather 

 smaller and shorter, and may possibly prove to be distinct ; 

 but it is most likely only an aberrant individual of the same 

 form. 



From the description, this species must be very nearly 

 related to D. Ii/jpocn'/a, Peringuey, -which has on each 

 elytron two discoidal bauds of pale scales coalescing at the 

 middle, whereas only one is present in our form. In the 

 female no pattern is traceable. A male and female of the 

 species were compared by Mr. Gu^- Marshall and Mr. Perin- 

 guey with the Peiiiiguey type at Cape Town and the ? (293) 

 named IJelerochelas longipes, Burm., the ^ (294) Dicrano- 

 cneiiivs fiquainuf-us, Buruj. Both, however, show the form of 

 frotit tiLiia distinctive of Dicranocn'^inus, while D. squnmosus 

 is cliaracteriised by a peculiar formation of the middle claws 

 of the (? which is absent here. D. hurchelli is one of the 

 very numerous species of this group of which the sexes are 

 quite dissimilar, so that, in the absence of sufficient evidence, 

 tliey are frequently associated wrongly. Tlie question has 

 been settled for us in the present instance by Burchell. 

 Four males and four females were taken by him, and of these 

 one of each given to the British Museum were placed on the 

 same pin, showing his conclusion that they belonged to a 

 single species. It will be seen in the above description that, 

 in addition to a difference of shape, the elytra of the male ai-e 

 decorated with orange scales, with a paler sutural patch and 

 longitudinal stripe upon each, while the female is uniformly 

 clothed with giey hair. Hence it is not surprising that, m 

 the absence of direct evidence, they should have been assigned 

 to different species, and even different genera. 



