322 D. SHARP 



basal joint quite short, the 2. nd and 4. th about equally long, the 

 fourth slender oval, its upper face with an oval, opaque de- 

 pression. Mandibles solid, and but little mobile, entirely cor- 

 neous, not rounded externally, but with the apex divided into 

 two portions of which the outer is the longer, and much the 

 larger. Labium entirely corneous, oval in front, and there very 

 densely pubescent, the palpi moderately long, and inserted in 

 cavities on its external edge, and very. near the front. All the 

 legs slender and the tarsi elongate; the front tibiae at the apex 

 with three acute teeth directed abruptly outwards, and with 

 smaller indistinct teeth between and above these: front tarsi, 

 rather stouter in the male than in the female, in both sexes 

 the second, third and fourth joints have a large patch of dense 

 hairs on their under face; the apical spur of the tibia is short 

 in the male, elongate in the female. The middle and hind legs 

 are slender, and their tarsi more elongate in the male than in 

 the female, and the patches of dense pubescence on their four 

 basal joints are more developed in the former sex. There are 

 no organs of stridulation on the elytra or propygidium. The 

 position of the abdominal stigmata, is that of the normal Dy- 

 nastini. 



This is an insect of considerable interest from its isolation 

 from other known forms, and though its affinities may. un- 

 doubtedly be considered very problematic, 1 think the most na- 

 tural place to assign it for the present would be near Stypotrupes, 

 Burm. 



Hafamus tarsal is n. sp. Niger,, nitidus, corpore subtus anterius 

 parce fulvo pubescente; prothorace sparsim vage punctato; elytris 

 sublaevigatis, stria suturali profunda. Long. 28-30 millim., lat. 12- 

 13 millim. 



Besides the sexual disparities which I have mentioned in de- 

 scribing the structural peculiarities of this species, there is con- 

 siderable difference in the sculpture of the upper surface. In the 

 female the thorax bears only some distant punctures forming 

 an irregular patch on each side of the middle, and the punc- 



