1178 COLEOPTERA 



joint of funiculus larger than second, third and fourth longer than 

 broad ; club elongate-oval. Thorax subtransverse, base and apex 

 truncate, without ocular lobes, rather narrower in front than behind; 

 finely and sparingly punctured along the middle. Scutelluni small. 

 Elytra oblong, scarcely at all curvate laterally, base feebly arcuate 

 and broader than thorax, humeral angles oblique ; substriate, finely 

 punctate, interstices simple. Legs robust, femora somewhat clavate ; 

 tibiae flexuous, the posterior a little expanded at the extremity, their 

 corbels narrowly cavernous ; tarsi rather short and thick, third joint 

 truly bilobed. 



Length (rost. incl.), 3-3 J- ; breadth, 1 lines. 



Otago. Mr. T. Chalmer; two examples. 



2088. N. pallescens, n.s. Body pale fusco-testaceous, covered 

 with depressed grey scales and yellowish setae ; antennae and ros- 

 trum reddish. 



In form resembling N. eclectus ; base of elytra truncate, their 

 punctuation fine and close, so as to appear more striate, interstices 

 broader, particularly the second, in N. eclectus the third and fifth 

 seem a little wider than the others and the rows of punctures look 

 as if arranged in pairs ; antenna shorter, articulations of funiculus 

 gradually incrassate, second joint much shorter than first, joints 

 3 and 4 quadrate, succeeding ones transverse ; tibia much thickened, 

 armed with well-developed spiniform denticles. 



Length (rost. incl.), 2f ; breadth, 1 lines. 



Near Lake Tekapo. One ; Mr. T. F. Cheeseman. 



Protophormus. 



Nov. gen. 

 (Sharp; Trans. Roy. Dub. Soc., 1886, p. 416.) 



Rostrum breve, crassum, pterygiatum, scrobes brevissimse . Oculi 

 subconvexi, a prothorace remoti; antenna elongates, scapo oculos 

 superante, prothoracis marginem attingente. Protliorax subcylindri- 

 cus, lobis ocularibus nullis. 



This insect is very similar in facies to the European genus 

 Phyllobius, from which it differs by the development of the 

 pterygia, and also by the fact that, whereas in Phyllobius the tip 

 of the hind tibiae is edge-like and bears only one series of setae, it is 

 here minutely truncate and bears two closely-approximated series of 

 ciliae, so that the "corbeilles cavern euses " of Lacordaire are here 

 present in a rudimentary state, though this structure is so minute 

 that the corbeilles would be said to be open by Lacordaire had he 

 known the insect. There are also other important differences from 

 Phyllobius, such as that in Protophormus the hind coxae are widely 

 separated ; the men turn is small, but fills the buccal cavity ; the 

 rnandibular scar is present ; the front coxae are small and contiguous, 

 and placed not very far from the front margin of the prosternum, 

 which is not at all emarginate ; the metasternum is rather short, about 



