•1897. ] of the Coleoptera of South Africa. 55 



sexual characters, which differ greatly in the male as well as in two 

 of the females. 



Gen. ASYMOPLECTUS. 



Elongate, depressed, parallel ; head large ; antennal club tri- 

 articulate ; prothorax more or less trapezoid with all the angles 

 rounded, three fovese connected by a transverse sulcus, the discoidal 

 fovea frequently wanting ; elytra subelongate, bifoveate at base and 

 without dorsal stria ; abdomen more or less elongate, first two dorsal 

 segments equal, third and fourth larger, principally in the male, 

 which has seven ventral segments, and the female six, the first one 

 between the coxae is carinate, the second to fourth inclusive sub- 

 equal, fifth smaller in male, sixth nearly invisible in the middle but 

 conspicuous and irregular laterally, seventh large, carinate ; in the 

 female the fifth joint is a little smaller, and the sixth large, sub- 

 triangular ; the other characters are as in Euplectus. 



This genus is closely allied to Euplectus and Bibloplectus ; it 

 differs from both by the first ventral segment being strongly carinate 

 from base to apex ; in the male the sixth segment is almost entirely 

 hidden in the median part, but wide and more or less irregular 

 laterally ; the third and fourth dorsal segments are much larger than 

 the others, while the fourth one is larger in Euplectus, and in Biblo- 

 plectus they are all of about the same size. Owing to the shape of 

 the prothorax and the absence of dorsal stria on the elytra it 

 resembles much more Bibloplectus than Euplectus. 



The genus occurs only in Africa ; it includes Euplectus antennatus, 

 Raflr., from Abyssinia, and six South African species. 



Asymoplectus discicollis, Raffr., 

 Plate XVI., fig. 21. 

 Bibloplectus discicollis. Eev. Entom., vi., 1887, p. 53. 



Elongate, piceous black or brown ; elytra more or less reddish 

 brown ; antennae and legs testaceous or red, covered with a pale 

 pubescence ; head of a moderate size, attenuate in front, and broad 

 between the eyes, bifoveate, and having two not particularly oblique 

 sulci joined with a transverse anterior one, vertex minutely impressed 

 near the neck ; antennae moderately robust, the first two joints 

 larger than the others and the second ovato-quadrate, third to eighth 

 moniliform, ninth to tenth a little larger, increasing in length and 

 transverse, eleventh moderately ovate and obtusely acuminate ; pro- 

 thorax a little larger than the head, suborbicular, conspicuously 

 foveate on each side and having a transverse sulcus angular in the 

 middle and produced behind in a subelongate, small fovea ; elytra 



