20 M. L. Peringuey''s Descriptive Catalogue [Nov. 30, 



In his Encyclopedic d'Histoire Naturelle Coleopt. 1877, vol. 1, p 13, 

 Dr. Chenu gives a wood-cut of Platychile pallida with that same dorsal 

 fus'^ous patch. It is not unlikely that the insect from which the draw- 

 ing was made had been captured in Benguela by Moufflet. 



Port Nolloth is the most northerly habitat of P. pallida, but the 

 insects from that locality are exactly like those found near Cape Town, 

 while in Sandwich Harbour, about 200 miles from Port-Nolloth, the 

 varieties sutiiralis and pJagiata only seem to occur. 



Tribe . MEGACEPHALID/E. 



Palpi elongated, the labial longer than the maxillary, and with the 

 basal joint much longer than the depth of the notch in the mentum, 

 the notch with a very small tooth in the middle. 



Gen. MEaAOEPHALA. Latr. 



Gener. Crust, et Ins. 1, 1806, p. ]75. 



Mentum with a short tooth, anterior part of the labium triangular, 

 last joint of the palpi very securiform and hollowed at the tip, the 

 basal labial joint longer than the notch in the mentum, the penultimate 

 one twice as long as the last one, and a little curved ; labrum narrow, 

 denticulated at the apex, head broad ; eyes large ; antennas long, fili- 

 form ; prothorax carinated laterally, narrowed at apex and base ; elytra 

 oblong, convex, no wings, legs moderately long, sub- quadrangular, 

 with a median groove on each face, the male with the three joints of 

 the anterior tarsi dilated inwardly, and seven abdominal segments,^ 

 the penultimate one not incised, the female with six segments only. 



This genus has only one representative in South- Africa, but is repre- 

 sented in Africa by six other species, all closely allied, and difi'ering 

 mostly in the size of the granulation on the elytra, and also in the 

 shape of the postical angles of the prothorax ; two species are found 



iLacordaire (Gener. d. Coleopt. 1854, p. 12) mentions six abdominal segments 

 in each sex ; I have before me the males of J/, rcgalis, the abdomen of which is 

 really seven-segmented. 



