638 MR. G. C. CHAMPION ON COLEOPTERA [NoV. 18, 



hind angles acutely rectangular, the base strongly bisinuate, the 

 surface finely, sparsely, and very distinctly punctured ; elytra wider 

 than the prothorax, widest beyond the middle, very obliquely 

 narrowing behind, the apices a little produced, the lateral margin 

 grooved within from a little below the base to the apex, the disc 

 transversely depressed below the base, transversely convex or gibbous 

 beyond this, and flattened and somewhat abruptly declivous pos- 

 teriorly, the surface finely striate-punctate, the punctures not very 

 closely placed and becoming finer towards the apex, the interstices 

 smooth and quite flat ; beneath almost smooth, the ventral segments 

 1-3 punctured and wrinkled in the middle ; the anterior tibiae bent 

 inwards at the apex in the male. 



Length 18, breadth 7| millim. (6-) 



One male example. Allied to T. simatus (Fabr.), but easily 

 known from that species (and from T. moerens, Westw., also) by the 

 gibbous, aeneous elytra, the bisinuate lateral margins of the thorax, 

 and the shorter antennas. T. ceneipennis (Kolbe), from the Congo 

 valley, resembles T. gibbipennis in the colour and shape of the 

 elytra, but is described as having the thorax and elytra more 

 strongly punctured than in T. sinuatus, a definition certainly not 

 applicable to the present insect. 



Taraxides pictus, sp. n. (Plate LVI. fig. 2, cJ.) 

 Subopaque, black ; the elytra each with a transverse flavous fascia 

 some distance before the middle, curving forwards as it approaches 

 the suture and narrowly extending along the side of it nearly to the 

 base and also narrowlyextendiug forwards along the lateral margin 

 to the shoulder, and a shorter and narrower similarly-coloured 

 transverse fascia considerably beyond the middle, this latter at some 

 distance from the suture "abruptly and obliquely branching ofi' 

 anteriorly to about the centre of the disc (forming a large V-shaped 

 mark) and posteriorly connected near the suture and along the 

 lateral margin with a large pale castaneous common apical patch, 

 these markings enclosing a large spot of the ground-colour on each 

 elytron. Head broadly flattened between, and obliquely carinate on 

 either side near, the eyes, minutely punctured, the punctuation 

 becoming closer in front and sparser behind ; antennae ( d ) black, 

 short, not nearly reaching the base of the prothorax, thickening 

 outwardly, joint 7 about as long as broad, joints 8-10 transverse, 

 9 and 10 strongly so, 11 about twice as long as 10; prothorax 

 transversely subquadrate, a httle narrowed in front, very slightly 

 narrowed and sinuate at the sides behind, the hind angles acutely 

 rectangular, the base strongly bisinuate, the surface sparsely and 

 minutely punctured, more shallowly so towards the sides, the disc 

 with traces of an obsolete median groove behind ; elytra wider than 

 the prothorax, widest beyond the middle, very obliquely narrowing 

 behind, the apices a. little produced, the lateral margin from the 

 base to the apex not grooved within, the disc transversely flattened 

 just below the base, the surface very finely and obsoletely striate- 

 punctate, the punctures not continued to the apex and a little more 



