90 Transactions of the South African Philosophical Society. 



apical margin with a small carinate emargination in middle ; man- 

 dibles porrect ; scrobes deep, oblique, passing much below the eyes. 

 Antenna very short, not truly geniculate, scape short and subcorneal ; 

 funicle with 7 joints, 1 and 2 more elongate and subequal, the others 

 transverse and more or less dilated towards apex ; club broadly 

 ovate, acuminate and articulate. Peothoeax with the anterior 

 margin roundly lobate dorsally and concealing the head when at 

 rest, ocular lobes very prominent and covering the eyes ; prosternal 

 furrow very deep, anterior coxae contiguous. Elytra very variable 

 in shape, much broader than the prothorax at the shoulders, the 

 lateral margins very sharply inflexed beyond the 6th interval. 

 Legs stout, femora straight and unarmed ; tibiae straight, with a 

 short spine at the inner apical angle ; tarsi broad, setose beneath, 

 joint 2 transverse, 3 emarginate but not bilobate, 4 long and broad, 

 claws simple and free. Abdomen w^ith the three intermediate 

 segments subequal, or with 2 slightly longer, the intercoxal process 

 very broad and truncate ; metasternum very short and acuminate 

 between the intermediate coxae, which are contiguous or separated. 



The only character by which Daulaxius, Pasc, can be separated 

 from Synthocus is the contiguity of the intermediate coxae. I am not 

 inclined to accept this as a generic character because the species in 

 which it occurs are not at all homogeneous, and in several instances 

 they show very close affinities in all other respects with species in 

 which these coxae are separated. Further, the character undoubtedly 

 varies within the limits of a species, e.g., S. reichei, Boh., and 

 S. sinuatus, Mshl. It may be noted that there are two types 

 of scaling in this genus. Normally the scales are small and round, 

 and lie flat ; but in nigropictus, adustus, plagosus, mashunus, and 

 especially stolatus, the scales are elongate and stand on end, being 

 packed closely together. 



I have failed to find any certain sexual characters either in 

 the structure of the abdominal segments or the legs. In adustus, 

 Pasc, the elytra are broader in some examples, which appear to be 

 all females ; whereas in hopei, Boh., and reichei, Boh., the males 

 have the elytra shorter and proportionately broader. 



The genus Synthocus finds its greatest development in the drier 

 regions of S.W. Africa, more than two - thirds of the species 

 occurring in Namaqualand, Damaraland, and Western Bechuana- 

 land. No species are known as yet from Natal or the Orange 

 E. Colony ; only one, reichei, occurs in the Eastern Province of 

 Cape Colony ; one in the Transvaal, parvus, which ranges right 

 across to Ovampoland ; one also in Portuguese E. Africa, stolatus, 

 from Delagoa. It is better represented in S. Khodesia, where three 



