Mr. T. V. Wollaston on the Coleoptera of St. Helena. 409 



following species, the outer edge of its hinder femora is armed 

 near to the base with an acute upwardly directed spine. Two 

 examples of it were taken at St. Helena, in 1860, by the late 

 Mr. Bewicke ; and a third (of a slightly obscurer tinge) is now 

 before me, from the collection of Mr. Melliss. Perhaps, there- 

 fore, it is one of the rarer species. 



43. Microxylohius conicollis. 



M. breviter elliptico-ovatus, seneus, nitidissimus, calvus, supra con- 

 vexo-arcuatus ; capite parce et leviter punctulato, rostro brevius- 

 culo subtereti valde deiiexo sat profundius densiusque punctato ; 

 prothorace conico (i. e. postice lato necnon ad latera oblique recto), 

 parce et levissime punctato (punctis sat magnis sed leviter im- 

 pressis, interdum quasi subobsoletis) ; elytris sat prof undo sub- 

 punctato-striatis, interstitiis latis et leviter subobliterate punc- 

 tatis ; antennis rufo-piceis, longiusculis, subgracilibus, fuuieuli 

 art'^ subconicis, tamen inter se magis compactis, capitulo minus 

 abrupto ; pedibus piceis, spina femorali maxima. 



Long. corp. lin. 1|-1|. 



Mic7-oxylobius conicollis, Woll., Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond. v. 384, pi. 18. 

 £ 9 (1861). 



The shortly ovate thickened body and convex arcuate upper 

 surface of this highly polished, lightly punctured insect (its 

 pro thorax being not only conical, i. e. broadest at the extreme 

 base and with the sides obliquely straight, but also in a con- 

 tinuous curve with the elytra) , give it an appearance so totally 

 distinct from the other species, that one might almost imagine 

 it to constitute the type of some cognate but separate group ; 

 and indeed its rather differently constructed funiculus, the 

 joints of which are more conical and more closely applied to- 

 gether than is the case in the generality of the Microxylohii^ 

 in conjunction with its more deflexed rostrum, might still 

 further tend to the same conclusion. An accurate inspection, 

 however, convinces me that it cannot be removed generically 

 from the remainder of the brassy species, its singularity of 

 contour being rather suggestive, to my mind, of specific links 

 (more or less intermediate between the extremes of form) yet 

 to he discovered than of any absolute hiatus such as its sup- 

 posed generic isolation from the true Microxylohii would seem 

 to imply : and I may add that the detection by almost every 

 observer, at St. Helena, of undescribed species in a group thus 

 extraordinary is quite in accordance with that hypothesis. In 

 its most essential generic characters it is strictly a Microxylo- 

 hius^ its femoral spine (so enormously developed) and brassy 

 hue removing it into that section of the genus to which (in 

 case that it should be desirable to detach it hereafter from the 

 other) I have given the provisional name of Thaumastomerus. 



