456 Mr. G. C. Champion on 



elytra blue or bluish-green, rugulose, and rather closely 

 punctured ; anterior tarsi simple, 5-jointed. 



? . Antennae short, rather slender, coloured as in (^ ; 

 head flattened, in some specimens slightly tumid between 

 the eyes above, this tumid space depressed in the centre. 



Va7\ 1. Prothorax usually with four small black spots ; 

 head and antennae as in J of //. hirtus ; head in ? with a 

 stout, transverse, mesially-interrupted ridge between the 

 eyes above. 



Hedyhius quadnmaculatus, Pic, L'Echauge, xix. p. 178 ( d" ? ) (190.3) 5. 



Var. 2. Smaller, the head nigro-maculate or black at the 

 base, the two black spots on the disc of the prothorax some- 

 times coalescent and forming a transverse patch, which is 

 produced into a dentiform projection in the centre behind, 

 the two basal spots constantly present ; the elytra less 

 uneven and more closely punctured; head and antennse 

 of cJ as in H. hirtus \ cox?e testaceous, (c? ? •) 



? Hedybius sijnplicifrons, Pic, Melanges exot.-entom. xxv. p. 2 ( J ) 

 (1917) «. 



Hab. S. Africa (7)r. Smith, in Mus. Brit.), Cape of 

 Good Hope ' ' * ' ' {coll. Fry ; Mus. Oxon. ; C. Darwin) , Pirie 

 Bush (Mus. Brit.), Saklanha Bay, Houwhoek, Calcdon, 

 Giftsberg, Cape Town, Willowmore,'Algoa Bay {Mus. Cape 

 Toivn), Rapenburg, Cape Flats, Ceres (R. E. Turner : x. 

 1920), Reenen, Bedford {Mus. Durban). 



The males of this variable insect, a long series of which is 

 before me, agree perfectly inter se in the structure of the 

 head ; but some of the larger females (from Pirie Bush, &c.) 

 exhibit an unusual development of the vertex, which is 

 wanting in the type. The two additional spots on the pro- 

 thorax are evanescent, and those on the disc are sometimes 

 coalescent. The dorsal and ventral surfaces of the abdomen 

 are metallic. The type (?) of //. hirtus is contained in the 

 Banksian collection in the British Museum, and it is still in 

 a fair state of preservation. 



H. simplicifrons, Pic, seems to be based upon a similar ? , 

 with the co\'8e testaceous. 



The Yar. 2 is represented by 5 c? c? and 6 ? ? ; it has 

 been found at Ceres, Cape Province, and at Houwhoek in 

 the Caledon district. 



