440 Mr. T. V. Wollaston on the Conation Malacoderms. 



recedes from both Attains and Pecteropus in having the front feet of 

 its males 4-articulate and simple, — the second joint not being in the 

 slightest degree produced on its upper side into a process or lobe. 

 In minor respects, its head is relatively a little larger and, together 

 with the prothorax, somewhat more even and convex ; its elytra are 

 more parallel at the sides, and almost free from erect additional 

 hairs ; and its entire surface is most minutely alutaceous and sub- 

 opake. And yet, in spite of the first-mentioned characters, which 

 are of primary importance, it so nearly resembles the Attalus chrysan- 

 themi in external markings and fades that, before closely examining 

 it, I had imagined that it might possibly be a mere depauperated 

 state of that species ; and it was only when I came to overhaul it 

 critically that I discovered it to belong to a totally different group ! 

 It certainly, however, affords a strong instance of how easily we are 

 apt to be misled by the superficial fact of creatures ivhich are wholly 

 distinct in the essential details of their structure being moulded on a 

 certain general outward pattern which would seem, for some myste- 

 rious reason, to have been assigned par excellence to particular 

 countries, or districts. 



The only four genera of the Mdlaehiidm hitherto enunciated in 

 which the anterior male-feet are tetramerous, are Trollops, Homceo- 

 dipnis, Antidipnis, and Colotes. The last three of these, however, 

 are so peculiar in the development of their palpi (which in Anti- 

 dipnis and Colotes offer, moreover, the most remarkable sexual 

 modifications) that it is unnecessary to point out in what they differ 

 from Micromimetes ; and we need merely confine ourselves there- 

 fore to Troglops. Apart from all secondary characters, the com- 

 paratively slender and conical last joint of its maxillary palpi (which 

 is regularly acuminated from the base to the apex, instead of being- 

 more or less thickened and securiform), in conjunction with its 

 smaller, convexer, and rounder head (which is alike in both sexes 

 and has no frontal depression or excavation), its more even and 

 totally different prothorax (which is comparatively wide behind, 

 and rounded instead of being suddenly constricted), and its very 

 much more abbreviated antennas (each separate joint of which is 

 considerably shorter), will at once remove the present genus from 

 Troglops. 



I cannot perceive any sexual distinctions in Micromimetes (apart 

 from the anterior feet), except that the males (as in the Attali and 

 Pecteropi) are a trifle smaller and more parallel, with their eyes a 

 little more prominent, and their antennas (although still very short) 

 somewhat more elongated. Both sexes are winged. 



