42 COLEOPTERA 



sericeo-subopacis ; palpis, pedibus, antennisque plus minusve piceo- 

 rufis ; capite foveis frontalibus vix impressis ; thorace quadrate, lateribus 

 antice paulo rotundatis, post medium leviter sinuato-angustatis, angulis 

 posticis paulo productis rectis, fovea basali utrinque unica profunda, toto 

 impunctato ; elytris postice paulo angustatis, apice baud sinuatis, striis 

 profundis simplicibus, interstitio tertio bipunctato. 



Long., 3f-3f lin. M.F. 



Christchurch (C. M. Wakefield). 



Similar in form to Holcaspis sylvatica, but wanting the essential 

 character of the group the striated base of the scutellum. In all 

 essential characters it agrees with the European Haptoderi. The palpi 

 have the terminal joints narrowed to the tip, and very briefly, the maxil- 

 laries in the male not at all, truncated. The head is rather small, and 

 shows scarcely any trace of the usual frontal fovese ; the thorax has on 

 each side of the base a single deep almost sulciform fovea, and its whole 

 surface is impunctate. The elytra have a well-developed scutellar striole 

 between the suture and the first stria ; the interstices are plain in the 

 sub-opaque female and a little more convex in the shining male, but in 

 both sexes they become narrow and convex at the apex, and the first 

 stria is continued round the apex to the marginal stria. 



Argiitor erythropus, Blanch., as far as the very insufficient description 

 goes, agrees with this species ; but no mention is made of the two punc- 

 tures on the third interstice. 



Argutor. 



Dejean ; Spec. Gen. des Coleop., iii., 203, 1828. 



Almost always under the middle size, generally winged, some- 

 times wingless, of a black or brown colour, very rarely metallic, rather 

 active, but less so than the species of Pcecilus, and generally found under 

 stones, by the side of water, and on mountains. Body rather elongate, 

 sometimes broad and depressed, prothorax almost square or heart-shaped; 

 antenna filiform and very slightly compressed ; palpi rather slender, last 

 joint cylindrical. 



89. A. erythropus, Blanch.; Voy. au Pole Sud, ZooL, iv.,/. 27, 

 1853. Rather flat, black ; head bifoveolate in front; antennae ferrugi- 

 nous ; prothorax sub-quadrate, bilineate at the base ; elytra striate ; tarsi 

 reddish-brown. 



Body rather narrow ; head smooth, having only two slight excavations. 

 Antenna ferruginous, rather hairy ; palpi of the same colour. Prothorax 

 nearly square, hardly convex, very slightly contracted behind, having a 

 shallow groove on the middle, and at the base a short groove at each 

 side. Elytra very little larger than the thorax, with projecting humeral 

 angles, and with rather marked striae, without distinct punctures, the in- 

 terstices perfectly smooth. Tarsi wholly of a reddish brown. Abdomen 

 blackish, with the edges of the segments reddish. 



Length, 6 mil. 



Akaroa, New Zealand. 



