1897.] of the Coleoptera of South Africa. 89 



shorter ; apical margin of the elytra truncate in a nearly straight 

 line. Length 2-30-2-50 mm. 



This species is apt to vary somewhat ; the discoidal stria of the 

 elytra is more or less abbreviate at tip ; when longer than usual it is 

 slightly arcuate at the end ; when short it is straight ; the carinulse 

 of the abdomen are always oblique and diverging, but they are more 

 or less apart from each other; the size of the body varies very much. 

 I have some examples from Abyssinia which are only 1-90 mm. in 

 length, while others reach 2-80 mm.; I have not noticed so much 

 difference in size among the South African examples. 



This species seems to have a wide distribution in Africa. 



Hob. Natal (Frere), Zambezia (Salisbury), Abyssinia. 



Gen. BEYAXIS, Leach, 

 Zool. Miscell., hi., 1817, p. 85. 



This genus is nearly similar to the preceding one, but the body is 

 generally more parallel, the fovese on the prothorax are of equal size 

 and free, as there is no transverse sulcus, and the lateral margin of 

 the elytra are not sulcate. 



Bryaxis seems to be confined to Europe and the African and 

 Asiatic Mediterranean shores (palaearctic fauna) and North America. 

 Its occurrence in South Africa is doubtful, the only two specimens 

 as yet recorded from this locality being two examples which I have 

 obtained from Mr. Boucard, and reputed to have come from South 

 Africa ; these two specimens are females of a well-known European 

 species (B. hcematica). 



It must be said, on the other hand, that this identical species is 

 found also in North America, where it is, however, so rare that it is 

 unknown to the American entomologists. I have in my collection 

 Dejean's type of B. obscura, Dej., from North America, which is 

 completely identical with B. hamatica. This species is not rare in 

 all the temperate parts of Europe, and I have discovered in Algiers 

 a slight variety. 



That the two specimens alluded to are females of B. hamatica 

 seems to me indubitable, but we must not necessarily infer that the 

 case is proven, because in many cases the females of different species 

 of Bryaxis are so similar that they are almost indistinguishable, while 

 the males of these same species are very different. If the male is 

 ever discovered in South Africa it may prove to be a different species, 

 or perhaps a mere variety, such varieties being already known (var. 

 perforata, Aube ; tuberiventris, Eaffr.). 



