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



Gen. NYASSINIUS, Westw., 



Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1879, p. 199. 



Mentum long, and somewhat narrow, parallel, swollen at the base 

 on the outer face and strongly sloping thence to the truncate anterior 

 part, palps cavity median, apical joint of palps fusiform outwardly, 

 slightly curved inwardly, upper lobe of maxillae almost porrect, 

 broadly hollowed inwardly, inner lobe with a small but also broad, 

 slightly curved tooth ; clypeus produced into a bluntly triangular, 

 laminate, highly reflexed process ((?), or reflexed only ( ? ), head 

 simple, eyes very large ; prothorax as long as broad, plainly hexa- 

 gonal, sharply incised laterally within the base, the sharply angular 

 incised part projecting slightly beyond the straight base ; scutellum 

 broadly and sharply triangular ; elytra very broad at the base, 

 conspicuously emarginate laterally at about one-fifth of the length 

 and parallel thence, very highly uni-costate in the dorsal part ; 

 spiracle of the propygidium very sharp ; pygidium vertical, very 

 highly carinate longitudinally in the centre from base to apex, 

 truncate at apex with an elongated tubercle on each side of the 

 truncate part (<^), or distinctly carinate longitudinally ($) ; meso- 

 sternum with a triangular horizontal process projecting beyond the 

 coxae ; prosternum simple ; legs somewhat short, robust, anterior 

 tibiae dentate at apex only, very slightly sinuate above the apical 

 tooth in the 2 , intermediate and hind ones without spines on the 

 upper side ; upper spur of intermediate tibiae hooked ; joints of 

 anterior tarsi somewhat short and massive. Sexes similar. 



Westwood describes two species, both from the neighbourhood of 

 Lake Nyassa. Having received a long series of the two, I have 

 been able to ascertain that they are the two sexes of one kind. 



Nyassinius lugubris, Westw., 

 Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1879, p. 200, pi. 3, fig. 2, $ . 

 N. maculipes, Westw., loc. cit., p. 199, pi. 3, fig. 1, $ . 



Bufous brown, sub-opaque, with the elytra partly covered with 

 a luteous tomentum (£), and having in the 2 a flavescent median 

 spot in the centre of each elytron ; clypeus glabrous, head variolose 

 punctate, the punctures very briefly squamigerous ; the hexagonal 

 prothorax is covered with wavy folds without any punctures, and on 

 the sides are a few very short, squamulose luteous hairs, there is a 

 deep median longitudinal impression reaching from the apex to the 

 base, and a posterior one on each side ; the scutellum is strigillate ; 

 the elytra have one dorsal costa very highly raised and sharp, 



