1896.] of the Coleoptera of South Africa. 219 



prothorax very little broader in the anterior part than in the posterior, 

 with the outer sides nearly straight ; elytra nearly parallel ; tarsi 

 very bristly, the three basal joints of the male with two series of 

 laminiform scales ; anal segment with two bristles on each side. 



Leptosaecus porrectus, Per. 

 HystricJiopus porrectus, Trans. S. Afric. Phil. Soc, 1892, p. 98. 



Elongated, black, shining ; labrum a little infuscate ; antennae 

 with the exception of the basal joints slightly rufescent ; head 

 smooth ; prothorax Avith the outer sides nearly parallel and the 

 margin slightly recurved, a little convex in the discoidal, part with a 

 narrow median longitudinal groove, and a lateral depression on each 

 side reaching from the base to past the median part ; elytra a little 

 broader than the prothorax at the base, with the lateral angles 

 sloping a little and the sides nearly parallel, narrowly punctato- 

 striate, with the intervals carinate in the centre, finely aciculate 

 and with a series of six irregular punctures on the third, fifth, and 

 seventh, lateral margin without any puncture ; tarsi long, slender ; 

 claws pectinate, with six long teeth on each side. 



The female is a little broader than the male. 



Length 13 mm. ; width 4 mm. 



Hah. Cape Colony (Constantia), ? Transvaal (Eustenburg) . 



Gen. PLAGYOPYGA, Bohem., 

 Insect. Caffr., i., p. 76, pi. i., fig. e, 1, 7. 

 DiaphoToncus, Chaud., Bull. Mosc, 1850. 



Mentum with a sharp median tooth ; ligula narrow, convex ; para- 

 glossae longer and acuminate ; last joint of maxillary palpi elongated, 

 rounded at the tip, the labial ones more obtuse at the apex ; 

 mandibles strong ; labrum short, transverse, slightly emarginate in 

 the centre ; antennae slender, filiform, the second basal joint oblong, 

 shorter than the third by one-half ; prothorax small, subcordiform 

 with the anterior angles long and acute ; elytra oblongo-quadrate, 

 hardly convex, striate ; tarsi setulose underneath, the anterior ones 

 a little dilated, w^ith the fourth joint slightly emarginate ; claws 

 divaricating, not at all pectinate or very faintly so. 



One is surprised at Boheman's mistake in stating that in Plagyopyga 

 the mentum has no median tooth: "Mentum sinu simplici, absque 

 dente." It is probably owing to that oversight — for I have ascer- 

 tained that in P. ferruginea there is a distinct median tooth — 

 that De Chaudoir has created a little later the genus Diaphoroncus . 



The main distinctive character between Plagyopyga and Hystri- 

 chopus consists in the absence of pectination in the claws. 



