OF NEW ZEALAND. 271 



Pericoptus. 



Burmeister ; Lacord. Hist, des Ins. Coleop., Tom. iii.. p. 418. 



Mentum elongated, sub-parallel at its base, narrowed only at its 

 extremity, its ligular part very small. External lobe of the jaws thick, 

 wide, unarmed, and obtuse at the end. Mandibles straight, unarmed, 

 rounded at their extremity, a little excavated above. Head obliquely 

 contracted in front of the eyes, hood not narrowed, and widely 

 rounded in front. Antenna ten-joirited. Prothorax transversal, angu- 

 larly rounded at the sides, rather strongly lobed at the middle of its 

 base, with an obtuse tubercular elevation on the middle in front among 

 the males ; not impressed and unarmed among the females. Elytra 

 smooth, with a sutural furrow. Legs very robust; anterior tibia fur- 

 nished with three very strong acute teeth ; intermediate and posterior 

 femora enormous, especially the latter, tibiae of the latter pair very much 

 dilated, those of the middle bicarinated on their external face, the 

 posterior with one carina and scrobiculated on the rest of their surface; 

 their terminal spurs very broad, foliaceous, especially the external ; tarsi 

 short, the first joint of the posterior very large, like an oblique elongated 

 triangle. Prosternal process stout, projecting beyond the coxae. 



476. P. truncatUS, Fabricius ; Ent. Syst., i., 7, 16 ; Oliv., t. ii., 

 f. 103. Brownish-black, moderately shining, legs and antennae ferrugin- 

 ous, the upper surface and the pygidium are nude, the lower is castane- 

 ous, varying in hue, the sternum is densely covered with long yellowish 

 hairs, and the sides of the abdomen with shorter ones. 



The head is small, flattened in front of the eyes, and this flat portion 

 usually bears a shallow rugose sculpture, the hind portion being almost 

 smooth. The prothorax is much broader than long, with obtusely 

 rounded angles, its apex sinuated behind each eye, and its base widely 

 bisinuated and slightly lobed in the middle, the sides are rounded and 

 narrowed towards the front ; the frontal tubercle is large and flattened 

 above, the sometimes-wrinkled depression immediately behind it occupies 

 a considerable portion of the surface, there is a much smaller transversal 

 depression in front of the scutellum, the rest of the surface is without 

 well-defined impressions of any kind. Scutellum large, curvilinearly 

 triangular, rugosely punctate at the base. Elytra wider than thorax, 

 truncated behind, indistinctly hollowed along the suture, sometimes 

 with ill-defined longitudinal lines, and more or less coarsely, but not 

 deeply, punctured near the sides. The pygidium is nearly smooth on 

 the middle, but rugosely punctate laterally. 



The sternum is rather finely and densely, the abdomen, especially 

 near the sides, more distantly and coarsely punctured. 



The front tibia are nearly smooth along the middle but coarsely 

 punctate near the sides ; the intermediate bear only a few large puncti- 

 form impressions, and the apex and costce are ciliated with coarse 

 spines; the posterior are indistinctly bicarinated and very coarsely, 

 densely, and rugosely sculptured. 



Length, 14 lines ; breadth, 8. 



