1896.] of the Coleoptera of South Africa. 381 



Gen. OTOPHTHALMUS, Chaud., 

 Monogr., loc. cit., 1879, p. 146. 



Mentum hardly excavate, with a triangular median tooth as long 

 as the lateral lobes, very broad at the base, and carinate on each side 

 of it, inner part of the lobes parallel, but obliquely truncate at tip, 

 outer part rounded ; maxillae straight and obtuse at tip ; mandibles 

 long, subfalcate ; labrum trilobate, the median one longer than the 

 others, all with one deep setigerous puncture ; head subquadrate, 

 sinuate above the eye, the genae projecting behind the eye in a 

 tubercle twice the size of the eye ; antennae reaching nearly the base 

 of the prothorax, the basal joint as long as the two following ; pro- 

 thorax nearly twice as broad as long, the posterior angles dentate ; 

 elytra soldered together, truncate at the base, with the humeral 

 angles projecting, convex, nearly parallel for two-thirds of the length, 

 elongato-ovate in the posterior part ; anterior tibse tridigitate, inter- 

 mediate ones pluridentate, the apical tooth very long, a long seta 

 between each dentation, posterior ones with three long setae on the 

 inferior margin ; median part of the abdominal segments bipunctate. 



Otophthalmus politus, Wiedem., 



Plate IX., fig. 4. 



Zool. Mag., ii. 1, p. 36. 



Shining or very shining ; head quadrate, sinuate above the eyes, 

 two very deep impressions in the anterior part filled with faint 

 plicae, posterior part of the head smooth ; prothorax a little broader 

 than the head, but not broader than the head with the genae, nearly 

 truncate in the anterior part, almost straight laterally from the 

 anterior to the posterior angle, oblique from the posterior angle 

 towards the median part of the base, which is slightly produced 

 behind, the median longitudinal and the transverse apical lines as 

 usual ; base carinulate ; elytra truncate in the base, sinuate in the 

 middle, with the lateral angles slightly sloping and acutely dentate, 

 outer sides parallel for two-thirds of their length, gradually elongato- 

 ovate behind, convex, smooth, shining or very shining, faintly striate 

 with the intervals plane, smooth, a very sharp supra-marginal carina 

 widely separated from the outer margin, and reaching from the 

 humeral angle to a certain distance from the apex, the outer margin 

 with a well-defined series of moderately deep punctures, third inter- 

 val with three deep long setigerous punctures in the posterior part ; 

 anterior tibiae strongly bidentate above the digitation. Length 15- 

 24 mm. ; width 4-|~7 mm. 



Hah. Cape Colony (Cape Town, Knysna, Mossel Bay). 



The swollen genae, coupled with the comparatively short head and 

 long falcate mandibles, impart to this species a very peculiar facies. 



