1907.] Catalogue of the Coleoptera of South Africa. 457 



Diplognatha gagates, Fabric, 

 Plate XLIIL, figs. 8 and 9. 

 Syst. Entom., p. 49. 

 Var. D. silicea, McLeay, 111. Zool. Afric, iii., p. 22. 



Shiny, black, glabrous ; head and clypeus almost impunctate, or 

 very obsoletely punctulate ; prothorax impunctate in the discoidal 

 part, but finely aciculate on the sides, the margin of which is dis- 

 tinctly serrate and briefly ciliate, the arcuate emargination above the 

 scutellum is also ciliate , scutellum impunctate ; elytra quite smooth, 

 without any traces of striae or costules ; pygidium very finely 

 aciculate plicate ; under side glabrous except on the prosternum, the 

 median part of the metasternum is impunctate and slightly grooved 

 except in the anterior part ; tibiae coarsely punctate. 



Length 21-28 mm. ; width 12-15 mm. 



Fairmaire has rightly pointed out that there is a difference 

 between the type form and its variety. In D. gagates the upper 

 side of the intermediate tibiae bears two teeth, while in D. silicea there 

 is one only. This character does not hold good throughout, because 

 I have been able to verify the partial obliteration of one of these 

 teeth in some examples of D. gagates from Komasi. Moreover, the 

 shape of the genital clasps of the $ is identical in both the typical 

 and the varietal form ; * and this is, after all, the true test. The 

 variety silicea is found all over Southern, Eastern, and Central 

 Africa, whereas the type form gagates would appear to be restricted 

 to the Western coast only, from Senegambia to Loanda. The South 

 African examples are usually larger than the others. 



I have bred this species from the nest of a hawk, Buteo jakal ; 

 the larvae feed on the excrements, and use also this material for 

 making their cocoon. I found no less than 29 of these cocoons in 

 one nest. 



Gen. APOCNOSIS, J. Thorns., 

 Typ. Cetonid., p. 30. 



Mentum parallel, truncate at apex with the outer angles slightly 

 rounded ; maxillae robust, outer lobe with two strongly hamate teeth 

 at apex, inner lobe ending in a similar tooth, and not densely ciliate 

 inwardly ; clypeus sharply carinate laterally, parallel, produced on 

 each side of the anterior part in a reflexed, quadrate tooth-like 

 process projecting beyond the straight anterior margin ; prothorax 



* The figure of D. gagate, pi. 43, fig. 8 is wrong, the apex having become 

 contorted through the example to which it belonged being slightly immature. 



