1906.] COLEOPTERA OF THE GENUS SCIOEIUS. 251 



however, appears to be normal. These distinctions cannot be re- 

 garded as of specific vakie, for in the long series which I have 

 been able to examine I find a certain proportion of intermediate 

 forms, which render it impossible to separate specifically the two 

 extremes. 



On one of my fem.ales of this species there is a note which I 

 made in Stockholm, to the efi'ect that this was the form which 

 Boheman regarded as the 2 of l^is histrigicollis. In this he was 

 certainly m error, as I have taken the latter species in cojnbld. 

 In the present species the sexes have not been thus definitely 

 ascertained, but, despite its striking difierence, I can have but 

 little doubt that the 5 here described is that of brevicoUis. 



This insect has a. much Avider range than any other in the genus. 

 The Transvaal record is based on a single $ in the South African 

 Museum. In the British Museum there is a specimen labelled 

 " Angola," but the locality seems doubtful. 



10. SCIOBIUS BISTRIGICOLLIS Boll. 



aS'. histrigicollis Boh. op. cit. vii. 1, p. 202 (1843), 

 Long. 6 4-5f , $ 5i-6f ; lat. 6 2i-3, $ 3-34 mm. 

 Sead very transverse, coriaceous, with thin pale setiform scaling ; 

 forehead with a shallow central impression ; eyes rather prominent. 

 Rostrum longer than broad, arcuate or subangulate at base, sides 

 sinuate, gense angularly produced in both sexes, but much longer 

 and sharper in the c5' ; upper surface plane, bicarinate, the carinse 

 gently sinuate, the central carina absent or obsolescent, scaling 

 and punctuation as on the head. Antenoice long and moderately 

 slender, piceous, with fine grey pixbescence ; scape subcompressed, 

 strongly curved, gradually clavate, funicle with third joint longer 

 than first, subterminal joints elongate. Prothorax rather broader 

 than long in the S , more transverse in the $ , the base ai'cuate, 

 apex narrower and truncate, broadest at base, the sides rounded 

 near apex in the c? , sublinear and more oblique in the 5 ; upper 

 surface slightly convex, evenly set with small roimded granules, 

 with a distinct curved lateral impression and occasionally with a 

 faint central impressed line ; colour piceous, granules bare, the 

 interstices with fine grey or yellowish pubescence, which is denser 

 along the median line, and there is a broad lateral band of dense 

 whitish scales. Elytra ovate in the J , much broader and pyrif oi'm 

 in the $ , jointly emarginate at base, the sides moderately rounded 

 and broadest aloout middle in the (S , but strongly rounded and 

 broadest much behind middle in the 2 j upper surface convex in 

 the 2 1 subdepressed in the c? , with distinct striae containing rows 

 of punctures separated by granules (in the $ the fifth stria is 

 usually deeper than the others) ; the intervals slightly convex, 

 smooth and impunctate anteriorly, but more or less strongly 

 granulate on the declivity ; colour piceous, with fine grey depressed 

 pubescence and patches of dense white or yellowish scaling dis- 

 posed as follows : a small, quadrate patch round the scutelkim, a 

 broad, very irregular band along the inflexed mnrgins, a narrower, 



