.'57G ^Ir. C. N. Barker on 



Hypolithus dubitis, sp. n. 



Length 7-7^ mm.; width 2f mm. (c? ? ). 



Black, shilling glabrous, obscurely iridescent; beneath 

 f(M'rugiiious. Auteuua), palpi, labrum, mandibles (basally), 

 and legs (brighter) testaceous yellow. Lateral margins of 

 prothorax, medial parts of apex and base, soutellum, and 

 lateral and aj)ical margins of elytra testaceous red. 



Head hardly perceptibly aciculate, very shiny, frontal and 

 transverse grooves shallow and very fine. 



I^rutliorax : front a little convex in the middle, shallowly 

 (iepresst'd on either side between centre and angles, the latter 

 rounded, not prominent, sides obliquely ampliated to a little 

 beyond middle, thence straight to posterior angles which are 

 obtusely right ; lateral margins anteriorly narrowly grooved 

 and reflexcd, more broadly and shallowly townrds base; base 

 wider than apex, medially broadly and shallowly emarginate; 

 disc finely aciculate, a little rugnlose frontaliy, more densely 

 and rugosely punctate about basal area ; median line short 

 and i)asal dejjressions shallow. 



Elytra at base hardly wider than prothorax, a little and 

 gently ampliated for some distance below shoulders, thence 

 obliquely narrowing or tapering towards and hardly sinuate 

 before apex ; above deplauate, very shiny, finely striate, 

 intervals quite plane, closely aciculate-punctate. Spaced 

 punctures on third and fifth intervals. 



The shape of the elytra in this species is very elliptic. 



Boheman's description of his '"'' melunchulicus'^ might 

 apply to this insect in most details, but his dimensions, 

 Gj mm. Ipng by 3 mm. wide, depicts an extraordinarily short, 

 squat insect unlike any llyjMjlithus I have yet met with. 

 Peringuey's dimensions do not agree with those of the 

 author, and it seems very doubtful whether he describes the 

 same insect. 



Hub. Salisbury, S. Rliodesia. Male and female examples 

 received fiom the Rev. J. A. O'Neil. 



1 have a single male example of a very nearly-related 

 species, from Nkusi River, Zululand, which is shaped almost 

 exactly like ''' dubius" ; it is, however, a little larger (8 mm. 

 by 3 mm.), the ground-colour is a deeper jet-black, and it 

 has no trace of iridescence; the labrum and mandibles are 

 wholly black and there is no difl'used reddish about the apex 

 or base of protliorax, scutelluni, or margins of the elytra. 

 The striation and puncturation of elytra are coarser and there 

 are well-defined spaced punctures on the third, filth, and 

 seventh intervals. 



d 



