the African Species 0/ Hedybius. 475 



rugosely punctured, brilliantly metallic cupreo-violaceous, 

 tinted with green or blue; the abdonaen is metallic; the 

 intermediate and posterior legs are partly infuscate in both 

 sexes. Gorhara's measurements must have included the 

 projecting tip of the abdomen. The ? of the present insect 

 is very like that oi Philhe clonus coriaceus (Er.), one of the 

 specimens from Willowmore having been mounted with a ^ 

 of the latter on the same stage. 



25. Hedybius plagiocephalus. 



Hedyhius plagiocephalus, Er. Entomographien, p. 93 (J 5) (1840) \ 



^ . Antennae very long, rather slender, slightly tapering 

 outwards, testaceous, joints 3-10 more or less angulate at 

 their inner apical angle, joints 3 and 4 subtriangular, 

 subequal in length, each with a small shining black area 

 at the apex beneath, 5-11 elongate, 11 black at the tip ; 

 head (PI. XIV. fig. 24) testaceous, black at the base and in 

 the centre of the deep pubescent inter-ocular cavit}^ which is 

 sliaped as in H. amoenus, and bordered laterally by an 

 angular, erect prominence preceded by a tuft of hairs ; 

 prothorax testaceous, with a large black, posteriorly-bifur- 

 cate discoidal patch, which is sometimes greatly extended 

 outwards ; elytra and metasternum blue or bluish-green ; 

 legs and abdomen testaceous, the posterior tarsi infuscate ; 

 anterior tarsi as in H. amcenus. 



? . Antennse short, more slender, the outer joints some- 

 times infuscate ; pygidium black. 



Hab. S. Africa {Mus. Brit. : cJ), Cape of Good Hope^ 

 [c? $], Port Elizabeth and Uitenhage [?] {Mus. Oxon.), 

 Howick, Natal [J*] and Caffraria [?] {Mus. Brit.), Algoa 

 Bay [ c? ? ] and Transkei \_S'\ [i^his. Cape Town) , Grahams- 

 toAvn (ex coll. Fry and Mus. Durban: ^). 



The nine males seen agree with Erichson's description in 

 having long, testaceous antennae in the $ , the small black 

 marks beneath joints 3 and 4 being almost invisible from 

 above. The ? seems to be separable from that of H. amcxniis 

 by the non-maculate antennae. The $ cephalic cavity wants 

 the hook-like prominence in the centre in front visible in the 

 allied H. dentatithorax, Pic, the $ of the latter, moreover, 

 having the pygidium testaceous in the two sexes. The pair 

 from Algoa Bay, communicated b}^ Dr. Peringuey, has 

 enabled me — as was the case with H. bimaculatus, Er. — to 

 define with certainty the sexes of the present species. 



