348 Mr. C. 0. Waterhouse on the 



XLIV. — Some Observations on the Coleopterous Family 

 Bostrichidee. By Charles 0. Waterhouse. 



Having recently had occasion to examine some species of 

 Bostrichidge, I have noticed a few points to which I think 

 it advisable to call attention. 



First, I observe that all the authors whom I have con- 

 sulted who venture an opinion on the sexes in the genus Apate 

 have reversed the sexes, not unnaturally supposing that the 

 examples with fulvous hair on the forehead were males. The 

 males have very little hair on the head ; the pronotum has a 

 recurved acute tooth at the anterior angle, and the apical 

 segment of the abdomen is rounded. The female has much 

 more hair on the head ; the anterior tooth on the pronotum is 

 not prominent, and the apical segment of the abdomen is 

 broadly truncate, fringed with fulvous hair and with a line of 

 hair just before the margin. 



Apate terebrans^ Pallas, is therefore the female of A. muri- 

 catus, F. The reverse has been suggested. 



Von Harold suggests (Mitth. d. Miinchn. ent. Ver. i. p. 119) 

 that Apate Francisca required a new generic name, because 

 Apate is founded on " muricatus^'' which is also the type of 

 Sinoxylon. But Apate is founded on muricatus^ Fabr., and 

 not on muricatus, Linne, the latter being the type of Sinoxy- 

 lon. It is true that Duftschmidt in describing Sinoxylon gives 

 a reference to Fabricius (as well as to Linn^) in naming muri- 

 catus as his type ; but he gives three lines as the length of 

 the species, which proves that he had the Linnean insect 

 before him. 



It is to be regretted that some recent authors have endea- 

 voured to reestablish higniperda^ Pallas (1772), which is 

 fomided on wood-boring species generally, belonging to diffe- 

 rent families. If any species can be said to be the type of 

 his genus it is capucinus, which is the type of Bostrichus, 

 Geoff. (1762). 



Dinoderus substriatus, Steph. (nee Payk.), 1830. 



Stephens, in his characters for the genus Dinoderus^ men- 

 tions only five small joints following the two larger basal 

 joints of the antennse. He overlooks the joint next to the 

 club, and on examining his type I am not surprised at his 

 doing so, for (from the position of the antennse and the 



