Ajiril, isno. I 93 



A NEW SPECIES OF NEURAPHES. 

 BY W. O. BLA.TCn. 



JSTeueaphes planifeons, «/). n. 



Head and thorax rufo-testaceous, elytra more or less pitchy-testaceous. Palpi 

 flavoHS. Antennae reddish-yellow, with first joint pitchy at apex. Legs reddish- 

 yellow, tai-si flavous. 



Head large, and (with the eyes) as wide as the thorax, vertex very broad, flat, 

 and smooth. Eyes prominent. Antennse with first joint stout and rather long; 

 second joint as long as first, but thinner ; third, fourth, and fifth, each rather longer 

 than broad ; sixth about as broad as long ; seventh larger than the four preceding, 

 its width and breadth about equal ; next three joints larger, gradually increasing in 

 size, strongly transverse, and forming with the terminal joint (which is about twice 

 the length of the tenth, and bluntly acuminate) a distinct club. 



Thorax longer than broad, convex, strongly deflexed, and rounded at anterior 

 angles, bordered from base to beyond middle, where it is broadest ; basal angles 

 slightly acute ; base with four faint fovese, one near each side margin, and one on 

 eacii side of a slight carina in centre, all of them at some distance from the basal 

 margin, and connected by a very faint, almost obsolete, line. 



Elytra rather broad, oval, convex, shoulders raised, the base with four fovea;, 

 the outer pair shallow, the inner pair deep, and filled with tufts of yellow hairs. 



All the femora are strongly clavate. 



The whole of the body, on its upper surface, is covered with long yellow 

 bristles, which are more or less decumbent on the head and thorax, and sub-erect on 

 the elytra. The punctuation is entirely setigerous, but is distinct and even coarse 

 on the elytra. Lengtli, 1 mm. 



I have found this beetle only in Sherwood Forest, under bark o£ 

 birch stumps, in company with Scydmceims Godartl and S. exilis. My 

 specimens were taken in May, 1884;, September, 1885, and June, 1889. 



This species seems to come nearest to iV. Sparshalli, from which 

 it may easily be distinguished by the broad flat vertex of its head, its 

 more prominent eyes, the longer joints of the antenna?, the stronger 

 and more erect bristles on the elytrs^^and the more perfectly oval form 

 of the latter. The vertex of the head in N. Sparshalli is narrow, and 

 always more or less depressed — an effect, perhaps, of the strongly raised 

 ocular margins. The thorax, too, is widest near the apex, and the 

 middle fovcce at the base are much closer to the outer ones than to 

 each other, the line connecting them is distinct, and there is no trace 

 of a central keel. The legs also are darker than in JST.pJanifrons, and 

 the inner fovea? at the base of the elytra appear to be without the 

 tufts of hairs. The antennae are less distinctly clavate. 



In this connection, I have examined a specimen given to me by 



Dr. Power as Scijd. jjumilio, which, seems to me to be only a small form 



of iV. Sparshalli. 



214, Green Lane, Snialiheath, 



Birmingham : March, 1890. 



