1907.] Catalogue of the Coleoptera of South Africa. 319 



canthus long, thick, eyes moderately broad ; antennal club ovate, as 

 long only as the pedicel in the male, shorter in the female ; prothorax 

 diagonally attenuate laterally in the anterior part, straight in the 

 posterior, the base strongly bi-sinuate with the outer angles distinct, 

 discoidal part somewhat convex behind ; scutellum cordate, rounded 

 at apex ; elytra broader than the prothorax at the base, slightly 

 sinuate in both sexes, slightly longer than broad, narrower at apex 

 than at base especially in the $ , and covering the propygidium ; 

 mesothoracic epimera vertical, but distinct in the $ , more narrowly 

 laminate in the 2 ; pygidium vertical and moderately convex in both 

 sexes ; anterior tibiae tri-dentate, tarsi long, anterior and intermediate 

 slender, posterior robust, the joints greatly compressed ; in both 

 sexes the hind femora are greatly thickened, in the $ still more than 

 in the 2 , the hind tibiae are very broadly dilated and mucronate at 

 each end in the $ , but not in the $ , the inner mucro being nearly 

 as long as the broad but sharp upper spur, in the ? this spur is 

 compressed and blunt at tip ; owing to the great development of the 

 hind thighs, the metasternal epimera stand away from the elytral 

 fold, which, however, is not emarginate above it ; this character is 

 very conspicuous in the $ , but much less so in the ? , although 

 in that sex the thighs are also greatly developed; the intermediate 

 and posterior tibiae have only a faint trace outwardly of the oblique 

 carinae. 



I am informed by the Bev. J. A. O'Neil that the species included 

 in this genus is termitophilous. It has a great likeness to 

 Xiphoscelis owing to the great development of the hind coxae, but it 

 differs from it in many important characters, especially in the shape 

 of the hind tarsi, which are much compressed as in several species 

 of Heterochelus (H. detritus, H. chiragricus, &c.) of the Sub-Family 

 Hopliince, and the terminal part of the hind tibiae is mucronate in 

 the $ as in other species of the genus above mentioned. The shape 

 of the genital clasps of the $ is not unlike that of some species of 

 the Sparrmannini. 



Elpidus hopei, Burmeister, 



Plate XLVIL, fig. 5. 



Handb. Entom. hi., 1842, p. 614. 



Black, antennae and elytra testaceous yellow, the latter with the 

 suture, a diagonal discoidal band on each side, and the outer margin 

 black ; upper side nearly opaque ; head and clypeus closely 

 shagreened; prothorax plainly shagreened, convex in the posterior 

 part, grooved longitudinally in the centre, and having along the 



