98.] of the Coleoptera of South Africa. 407 



Hub. Cape Colony (Port Elizabeth). 



Dr. Brauns found this species with a new genus of ants, Rhoplao- 

 myrmex transversinodis , Mayr., in litt. 



Teibe TYBINI. 



Gen. CENTBOPHTHALMUS, Schm., 

 , , Bestr. Mon. ; Psel. Prag., 1838, p. 7. 



Camaldus Fairm. 



Body oblong, little convex ; head small, triangular, with a frontal 

 tubercle ; eyes very large with an infra-ocular spine ; antennae long 

 and strong with a distinct club, approximate at base ; palpi with the 

 first joint inconspicuous, second elongate and clavate at the apex, 

 third large, compressed, more or less triangular, elongate, obliquely 

 truncate at apex, fourth much smaller, inserted at the inner angle of 

 the third, aculeate, very sharp at the tip which is devoid of the usual 

 appendage ; prothorax more or less ovate ; elytra large with a fine 

 sutural stria and a more or less diffused and short discoidal sulcus ; 

 abdomen with a broad margin, rather short and depressed, the first 

 dorsal segment much shorter than the following one, the two first 

 bearing generally two longitudinal carinas ; all the trochanters, and 

 more especially the intermediate ones, elongate with the insertion 

 of the femur terminal, intermediate and posterior coxae approximate ; 

 first ventral segment short and more or less concealed under the 

 coxae, third larger than the others ; legs long and robust, tarsi elon- 

 gate with two strong and equal claws. 



The peculiar construction of the palpi being unique in the family 

 will at once facilitate its identification. The genus is largely repre- 

 sented in Asia and in both the East and West Coasts of Africa. It 

 extends north as far as Algeria, but it had not yet been recorded 

 from South Africa, and the discovery of this genus in Mashunaland 

 and in the southern part of the Colony proves once more that such 

 countries belong to the general fauna of Africa, from which the 

 rather isolated fauna of the Cape peninsula stands isolated. 



Centrophthalmus mabshalli, 

 Plate XVIII. , figs. 20 and 21. 



Oblong sub-depressed, obscure rufous, elytra brighter and redder, 



28 



