Coleopterous Sub-Family Byrsopince (Gurculionidcs). 57 



2. HOPLITOTRACHELUS SPINIFER, Fahr. 



H. spmifer, Fahr., Ofv. K. Vet. Ak. Forh. 1871, p. 197; Lac, Gen. 

 Col., pi. 67, fig. 2 {fig. pessima), 



H. sobrimis, Kolbe, I.e. p. 258 (verisimile). 



Long. 131-18 ; lat. 6i-9i mm. 



Head plane or slightly excavate, with very deep scattered punc- 

 tures, the forehead narrowly carinate and the superciliary ridges 

 strongly elevated. Bo strum acuminate at base and with a tubercular 

 elevation, the sides bluntly angulated and elevated in the middle, 

 the disk with a stout central carina in the basal half, the anterior 

 part being almost plane. Prothorax nearly plane dorsally and very 

 rugosely punctured, without any distinct transverse impression 

 anteriorly, but with the apical margin abruptly elevated and form- 

 ing a large callus, which is more or less angulated laterally and 

 bilobate posteriorly, with a short carina between the lobes ; sides 

 with a sharp lateral spine and two or three blunt tubercles above it. 

 Elytra ovate, with irregular reticulate foveas, and three rows of 

 large conical tubercles, with a few smaller tubercles between them ; 

 the inner row abbreviated anteriorly, the outer row with usually 

 five, but sometimes six or seven, tubercles. 



Natal : Malvern (0. N. Barker, G. A. K. M.). Transvaal : 

 Selati (J. Naughton). Bechuanaland : Lake Ngami [Brit. Mus.] . 

 Matabeleland : Plumtree (Father O'Neil), Bulawayo {G. A. K. M.), 

 Matopos (P. A. Sheppard). Mashonaland : Salisbury and Umtali 

 {G. A. K. M.). Port. E. Africa : Beira (P. A. Sheppard). German 

 E. Africa : Kilwa. 



Type in the Stockholm Museum ; type of sohrinus in the Berlin 

 Museum. 



This common insect feeds principally on certain species of wild 

 asparagus. In the northern specimens the mesosternal tubercle is 

 always present, but in examples from Natal it is often reduced, or 

 even entirely absent. 



3. HOPLITOTRACHELUS CALLOSICOLLIS, Fahr. 



H. callosicoUis, Fahr., I.e. p. 198. 



Liasotus ovis, Pasc, Trans. Ent. Soc. L. 1887, p. 335, pi. xi., 

 fig. 10. 



Long. 9-14 ; lat. 4f-74 mm. 



Head convex on vertex and with remote deep punctures ; the 

 superciliary ridges well developed, the space between them with 

 two shallow impressions, sometimes separated by a faint carina. 



