1897.] of the Coleoptera of South Africa. 113 



Hob. Cape Colony (neighbourhood of Cape Town, Newlands). 

 Very rare ; one example. 



Gen. MAEELLUS, Motschulsk., 

 Bullet. Mosc, 1851, iv., p. 483. 



Body oblong, attenuate in front; head transverse, antennal tubercle 

 long, narrow ; eyes large ; maxillary palpi elongate, first joint con- 

 spicuous, second elongate, clavate at tip, third shorter, more or less 

 obconical, fourth elongate, fusiform or filiform ; antennae elongate, 

 club large, triarticulate ; prothorax cordate and provided with a 

 transverse sulcus and lateral foveas ; abdomen marginate ; legs 

 elongate, slender, posterior coxae distant ; tarsi elongate, second to 

 third joints subequal, claws double, equal. 



This genus seems to be exclusively African, and is found in 

 Algeria, Egypt, Abyssinia, Zanzibar, and Natal, but examples are 

 always rare. 



Maeellus geanosus. 



Totally rufous, granular, covered with an extremely short pubes- 

 cence ; head convex, transverse, antennal tubercle narrow and 

 moderately elongate, sulcate longitudinally ; third joint of palpi 

 obconical, fourth in the shape of a long spindle, acuminate ; antennae 

 elongate, first joint elongate, cylindrical, second a little thicker than 

 the following ones, thicker, elongate and cylindrical, third to seventh 

 elongate, subcylindrical, a little decreasing in length, eighth quad- 

 rate, ninth to tenth oblong, slightly obconical, tenth a little thicker 

 and shorter, eleventh oblong, obtusely acuminate ; prothorax cordate, 

 abruptly attenuate in front, rounded laterally before the median part, 

 and sinuate from there, two large lateral foveae, the median one of 

 which is minute, transverse sulcus straight, obsolete ; elytra elon- 

 gate, slightly attenuate in front, slightly oblique laterally, shoulders 

 oblique and well defined, base bifoveate, sutural stria entire, dorsal 

 sulcus short ; abdomen shorter than the elytra, broadly marginate, 

 the two first segments equal ; metasternum strongly and broadly 

 excavated, minutely carinate laterally, intermediate coxae tubercu- 

 late inwardly ; legs slender, femora slightly thickened ; tibiae not 

 quite straight. Male. Length 1*40-1 "50 mm. 



In this species the last joint of the maxillary palpi is fusiform, as 

 in M. biskrensis, but more acuminate ; the prothorax is longer, less 

 broad and less rounded in the anterior part ; the elytra have more 

 raised and more oblique shoulders ; the metasternum is much more 

 excavated and carinate on each side. It differs much more from 

 M. fiUpaljpus, Eaffr., from Kilwa (Zanzibar mainland), in which the 



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