CuJeoptera from tlie Indian Kmpire. 421 



medio broviter acuminata, vertico leviter excavato, punctato, 

 postice bituberculato ; prothorace huud doclivo. 

 Long. 6-8 mm. 



Ilah. N.W. India, Baiiiui, (xwalior. 



Black, sometimes with a faint blui.sli or greenish tinge, 

 and not very shining above. It is a small species, elongafe- 

 ovate in shape. The head is not produced, but is slightly 

 emarginate in front. The prothorax is evenly and not very 

 finely punctured, with the sides strongly curved, the posterior 

 angles rounded off and the base not angulated or margined. 

 The elytra are moderately deeply striated, with sjjarsely 

 scattered granules upon the interstices. The pygidium is 

 thinly punctured, the metasternum evenly but not very 

 strongly, and the abdomen imininctato. 



^. The clypeus is moderately punctured, and the vertex 

 armed with two straight horns of moderate length, directed 

 slightly backward and dilated at their bases but not connected 

 together. There is a very slight ridge just in front of the 

 liorns, and the enclosed space is concave and thinly punctured. 

 The prothorax is feebly declivous and smooth in front. 



? . The clypeus is finely rugose, with a very fine anterior 

 carina and a well-marked posterior carina acuminate in the 

 middle, and the horns are represented by a pair of short 

 tubercles. The intervening space is concave and punctured. 

 This species is allied to 0. tragus, F., and 0. dama, F., 

 but is smaller and more elongate than either. 



Onthophngus rectecornutus, Lansb., is an interesting species 

 belonging to the same group which needs further investi- 

 gation as regards both its variation and geographical distri- 

 bution. It is stated by Lansberge (Leyden Museum Notes, 

 1^83, p. 50) to inhabit Java, Sumbawa, and Ceylon, and to 

 ditfer from 0. luridus (Dej. MS.) only by the curved and 

 diverging horns of the latter. The two forms thus distin- 

 guished appear to me to be specifically inseparable, although, 

 in addition to the development of the horns, the luridus form 

 has the j)rothorax more globose and much more contracted 

 in front and the head more narrow. These are all characters 

 peculiar to the male, and in other respects there is so much 

 constancy and individuality that I feel obliged to regard this 

 as a single species with two forms of male. Jjansberge 

 remarked that the female w as unknown to him, but probably 

 looked for a hornless form and did not notice the real sexual 

 differences, which, contrary to the general rule, are not found 

 in the armature. Male and female of the rectecornutus form 

 are alike armed with a pair of erect parallel horns and u 



