May, IS'JO.J 121 



ON THE TRUE AFFINITIES OF THE HETEROMEEOUS GENUS 

 LAGRIOIDA, FAIRMAIRE AND GERMAIN. 



BI a. 0. CHAMPION, F.Z.S. 



Amongst the numerous interesting Coleoptera captured by Mr. 

 .T. J. Walker, E-IS"., F.L.S., on the coast of Chile, during the cruise of 

 H. M. S. " Kingfisher," are several examples of a Lagrloida {phscu,rella, 

 Fairm. and Germ.), which he found under plants on the dunes at 

 Coquimbo and Valparaiso, under similar circumstances to those men- 

 tioned by Fairmaire and Grermain in their original record. This genus, 

 based upon two species (i. rufula and L. ohscurella), found in company 

 at San Antonio, Chile, was referred by its authors, without comment, 

 to the Lagriidoe {cf. Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr., 1863, p. 234) ; and a third 

 species {L. Brounii),ivom. Tairua, New Zealand, has been subsequently 

 added to it by Pascoe (Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist., 4th ser., xviii, p. 58). 

 This position is also adopted by Pascoe {loc. cit.) and Philippi (Cat. 

 Col. Chile, p. 125) ; but in Mr. F. Bates's collection, Lagrioida (not 

 Lagrioda, as written by Pascoe) is separated from the LagriidcB and 

 labelled as possibly belonging to the (Edemerid<s. 



Having recently studied most of the genera of the Lagriidce, the 

 affinity of Lagrioida with this family seemed to me to be more than 

 doubtful ; and, after examining the typical examples of L. rufula and 

 L. ohscurella in Mr. F. Bates's collection and those obtained by Mr. 

 Walker, I can only come to the conclusion that it is erroneously so 

 placed. The anterior coxae are conical, strongly exserted, and conti- 

 guous, the cavities widely open behind ; the middle coxae are very 

 narrowly separated by the mesosternum, moderately prominent, and 

 have a distinct trochantin ; the hind coxae are separated by the mode- 

 rately broad triangular process of the basal segment of the abdomen, 

 the metasternum having a very sharply cut deep notch for its reception. 

 The head is short, broad, as wide as the prothorax, flattened between 

 the eyes, and without the slightest trace of a transverse groove in 

 front ; the eyes are very coarsely granulated, oval, and entire ; the 

 mandibles are feebly bifid ; the mentum is trapezoidal, twice as broad 

 as long, and truncate in front ; the membranous ligula is largely de- 

 veloped (but does not extend laterally so far as the mentum), broadly 

 and very shallowly emarginate in front ; the labial palpi (described by 

 Fairmaire and Germain as " extremement courts et petits, a peine 

 distincts ; dernier article attenue ") have their second joint much 

 thickened towards the apex, the apex very obliquely truncate, and the 

 apical joint slender, elongate-oval, the apex truncate ; the apical joint 

 of the maxillary palpi is large and subsecuriform ; the tibial spurs 



