and Species of Coleoptera. 347 



angustioribus ; corpore infra castaneo ; pedibus antennisque, 

 clava nigra excepta, sublutescentibus ; oculis valde prominulis. 

 Long. 1| lin. 



Hah. Ceylon. 



Allied to E. delusa^ Pasc. (Journ. of Entom. i. p. 53, April 

 1860, pi. 2. fig. 5), but, inter alia^ with a narrower protliorax, 

 not denticulate at the sides, and the two posterior angles not 

 emarginate. 



Elacatis laticolUs. 



E. rufo-testacea fusco-variegata, supra pilosula ; oculis minus pro- 

 minulis ; antennis articulis tertio ad octavum gradatim brevioribus, 

 clava fuscescente ; prothorace sl "■ fortiter transverse, lateribus 

 subparallelis, angulis posticis obL lis ; elytris prothorace hand 

 latioribus, postice gradatim angustioribus, pallide fuscis, maculis 

 rufo-testaeeis, nonnuUis indeterminatis, notatis; corpore infra 

 fuscescente ; pedibus flavo-testaceis ; femoribus in medio tibiisque 

 fuscis. Long. 3 hn. 



Hah. Batchian. 



A larger and darker species than the last, the fusion of the 

 browner shades leaving paler spots at intervals ; the broad 

 prothorax, its sides nearly straight and its posterior angles 

 neither emarginate nor rounded, differentiates it from E. de- 

 lusaj as well as from the preceding. Elacatis was originally, 

 but hesitatingly, referred by me to Melandryidse, on account 

 of its heteromerous tarsi and pronotum marked off from the 

 flanks of the prothorax by a narrow ridge. Dr. Leconte, on 

 his recent examination of my collection, at once recognized it 

 as his Othnius, a genus founded on a species taken in Nebraska, 

 near the Rocky Mountains ; disregarding its heteromerous 

 tarsi, which, he considers, are perhaps peculiar to the males*, 

 he places it near Cryptophagidtef, as a distinct family. In 

 this I agree with him. The difficulty occurs, as my name is 

 the oldest, whether the name of the family should be changed; 

 but the adoption of Othniidag will have the advantage of con- 

 necting the two names given to a highly specialized form 

 found in such dissimilar faunistic regions as North America 

 and the Indian Islands. 



* In JS. delusa, which was found by Mr. Wallace in Borneo and New 

 Guinea, both sexes are heteromerous. Fi'om a note attached to a speci- 

 men of this species in the British Museum, it would seem to be very like 

 one from Mexico, named (but not, that I am aware of, described) by 

 Dr. Horn of Philadelphia. 



t It is worth noting that Tetratoma, to which I compared ElncatiK, is, 

 together with Triplax and Tritoma, referred by Dr. Redtenbacher (Faun. 

 Aust.) to this family. 



26* 



