1900.] Catalogue of the Coleoptera of South Africa. 9 



sternum covered with round not closely-set punctures but having 

 only a few punctures on the median part which is distinctly shiny, 

 mesosternum and metasternum with deep, round punctures. 



Female : Differs from the male in the shape of the mandibles 

 which are shorter or not longer than the head, bi-dentate at tip, the 

 upper tooth being rounded and the inferior one longer and more 

 acuminate ; the head is not excavate ; the prothorax is more attenuate 

 and rounded laterally in front, and the three tubercles in the anterior 

 part are not set in a transverse line, the median one standing behind 

 the other two. 



Length (exclusive of mandibles), 8-13 mm. ; width 4-5 mm. 



Hah. Cape Colony (Knysna, Swellendam, ?Kowie). 



Gen. NIGIDIUS, McLeay, 

 Hor. Entomol., i., 1819, p. 108. 



Mentum one-third broader than long, rounded and ampliate late- 

 rally from the median to the apical part, deeply and somewhat 

 broadly emarginate at tip and somewhat broadly concave in the 

 inner anterior face ; ligula bi-lobate, very slender, membranaceous, 

 fringed with long, dense hairs ; labial palpi short ; upper lobe of 

 maxillae broad, sub-oblong and fringed with very long, dense hairs ; 

 apical joint of maxillary palpi flagellate, a little longer than the two 

 preceding put together ; mandibles shorter than the head, curved 

 and moderately sharp at tip, bluntly bi-dentate inwardly, and bearing 

 on each side of the base a vertical horn curving inwardly ; head as 

 broad as long and with the canthus of the genae lobate and project- 

 ing much beyond the eyes which it divides entirely ; antennae 

 moderately long, basal joint not quite as long as all the others, club 

 glabrous and consisting of the two penultimate joints which are 

 conical inwardly, and of the apical one which is rounded at tip ; 

 prothorax nearly parallel laterally for two-thirds of the length and 

 slightly obliquely attenuate from there towards the base which is 

 slightly sinuate while the apical part is straight ; scutellum elongate, 

 somewhat sharp at tip ; elytra sub-cylindrical ; suture of the meta- 

 sternum and mesosternum not quite obliterated ; intercoxal prosternal 

 process not aculeate at tip ; anterior tibiae serrate from the elbow to 

 the apex where the two terminal serrate teeth are set close together, 

 posterior ones pluri-dentate on the outer side, tri-digitate at apex ; 

 tarsi shorter than the tibiae. 



The genus is represented in the Philippine Islands, Formosa and 



