388 Mr. F. P. Pascoc on the Brenthida\ 



XXVIII. — Notes on the Brenthidoe. 

 By Francis P. Pascoe, F.L.S., <fec. 



Most of the Brenthidae described in these notes are due to Mr. 

 Wallace's indefatigable researches in the Indian Islands, where they 

 seem to abound. There are still materials, however, for a very con- 

 siderable addition to our knowledge of this family ; and, considering 

 their bizarre forms and the doubtful place which they occupy in 

 classification (evidently, however, a transition group), it is somewhat 

 remarkable that so little should have been written concerning them. 

 It is not my intention just now to do more than indicate some of 

 these novelties ; but, to those which we owe to Mr. Wallace, I have 

 added another form from South Africa, which bears such an evident, 

 although perhaps somewhat distant, resemblance to Hypocephalus, 

 that I cannot help regarding Mr. Curtis's idea* that the latter is a 

 gigantic Brenthus as much nearer the mark than his latest opinion, 

 which refers it to the LameUicorn'm ! In the following pages the 

 descriptions only apply to the males, — the females, as is well known, 

 differing principally in the simple terete rostrum and basal insertion 

 of the antennae. 



EcTOCEMTTS. 



Caput paiTum, postice sublobatum, collo brevissimo, oculis subbasalibus. 

 Rostrum elongatum, canaliculatum, basi rugosum, apice abrupte alatum, 

 mandibulis parvis exsertis. Antenna: longiusculae, teretes, articulis 

 socimdis tertiisque subequalibus. P>-othorax subovato-ampliatus, lsevis. 

 Elytra breves, subtriangulares, apice quadricallosa. Pedes mediocres, 

 autici elongati, femoribus dentatis, tibiis anticis subcurvatis, apice 

 spinosis, tarsis brevibus. 



In some respects this genus approaches Arrhenodes, although in 

 habit it is more like Rhaphirhynchus ; but the form of the head, the 

 smallness of the mandibles, and, above all, the peculiar rostrum are 

 sufficiently distinctive. 



Ectocemus Wallacei. 



E. rufo-ferrugineus ; elytris nigris, flavo lineatis, fortiter punctato-striatis, 

 apice angulatis. 



Hub. Batcbian. 



Head and rostrum about one-third the total length, the former some- 

 what bilobed and smooth behind the eyes, black, the neck indistinct, 

 rostrum slightly narrowing to the middle, where it receives the an- 

 tennae, black, and rugosely punctate, beyond the antenna} gradually 



* See Traus. Linnean Soc. 18. r >4, p. 227. 



