58 Transactions South African Philosophical Society, [vol. xiii. 



Owing to the antennal club being 4- jointed, Burmeister considered 

 his example to be a male. But in the type of Microtrachelus the 

 antennal club is 5-jointed and longer than the pedicel in the male, 

 and 4-jointed and as long as the pedicel in the female. It is there- 

 fore not improbable that this species belongs to Microtrachelus. 



Gen. ABLABEKOIDES, Blanch., 

 Catal. Coll. Entom., 1850, p. 102. 



Sphcerotrachelus, Brensk., Berl. Ent. Zeit., 1900, p. 82. 

 Trochaloserica, Brensk., loc. cit., p. 82. 



Mentum nearly similar to that of Troclialus, but usually wider at 

 the base ; palpi identical, maxillae with three superposed teeth, the 

 two lower ones bifid ; clypeus always more or less narrowly constricted 

 laterally in front, as well as sinuate between the genal projection and 

 the constricted part, the anterior margin is strongly renexed, and in 

 the majority of species its median part is very strongly dentate, in 

 which case the tooth is continued as a longitudinal keel dividing the 

 strongly depressed anterior part into two, or it is merely angular, in 

 that case the anterior part is not hollowed, there is a clypeal keel 

 which is seldom indistinct, and a frontal grooved suture, which, 

 however, turns into a short keel in a few species ; the eyes are 

 almost completely closed (Ablaberoicles) or the hind keel does not 

 coalesce with the genal canthus, but is always developed (Trochalo- 

 serica) ; the antennae are 10- jointed with the club tri-jointed and 

 very long in the male (Ablaberoides), or 9-jointed (Sphcerotrachelus) ; 

 prothorax short, strongly transverse, fringed with long setae ; scu- 

 tellum large ; elytra short, sub-parallel or ampliato-ovate, in which 

 case they are more convex than when sub-parallel, punctate, striate 

 or non-striate with the exception of the juxta-sutural stria which is 

 always plainly visible ; pygidium moderately convex ; pro- and 

 meso-sternum hairy; anterior tibiae bi- or tri-dentaie, legs of Tro- 

 chalus but with the anterior trochanters not so strongly dilated. 



The characters assigned by Brenske to his genus Sphmrotrochalus 

 agree very well with those of Ablaberoides, of which I have seen the 

 type, except that the antennae are 10- instead of 9-jointed, and Tro- 

 chaloserica, also one of Brenske's genera would seem to differ mainly 

 in both eye-keels not being in contact. After careful examination I 

 came to the conclusion that completely or incompletely closed eye- 

 keels did not coincide with 10- or 9-jointed antennae, and that these 

 characters can be made use of merely to group the species, not to 

 divide them into genera. 



