114 Transactions of the South African Philosophical Society. 



Cape Colony. 



Type in the British Museum. 



The above description is made from the type, but there are two 

 other examples in the British Museum which exhibit a distinct 

 development of the juxta-sutural row of tubercles such as occurs in 

 planus, Thb., and which also have a single inconspicuous tubercle 

 between this row and the dorsal margin. In spite of its different 

 facies it seems not improbable that when more material is available 

 it will be found that sordidus is merely an individual variation of 

 planus, the difference in the shape of the elytra being perhaps 

 sexual. 



9. Brotheus occlusus, Pasc. 



Ixodicus occlusus, Pasc, J. Linn. Soc, xi., p. 448, pi. xiii., f. 8 

 1872). 



Long. 41-5 J; lat. 3-3|- mm. 



Colour dull black, with the basal two-thirds of the prothorax and 

 the four basal tubercles of the elytra dark red. 



Head obsoletely punctured, forehead with a very shallow trans- 

 verse impression. Prothorax scarcely broader than long, sides 

 rounded, broadest rather behind middle, a little more narrowed in 

 front than behind ; upper surface with a broad curved transverse 

 impression near apex, the disk slightly elevated posteriorly, smooth 

 or sparsely punctured, and usually with a shallow central furrow, 

 the extreme base sometimes coarsely punctured ; sides with large 

 remote punctures. Elytra subglobose, the basal margin deeply 

 sinuate, broader than the base of the prothorax and with the 

 external angles projecting forwards, shoulders prominent, rounded 

 or very obtusely angulated but not dilated, the sides rounded and 

 very gradually narrowed behind, the declivity moderately steep and 

 rounded dorsally ; upper surface convex, with irregular rows of 

 large shallow punctures more or less hidden by the dull black 

 scaling, and on each side of the base an elongate obtuse callus 

 which projects forwards over the base of the prothorax ; in the 

 typical form there is near the suture at the top of the declivity a low 

 obtuse elevation on each side from which a faint oblique and obtuse 

 ridge runs for a short distance across the disk ; but these characters 

 are often better developed, the posterior elevation becoming a 

 sharply conical tubercle with a well-defined carina nearly reaching 

 the shoulder ; there is also a lateral carina from the shoulder to the 

 top of the declivity, but this is usually more or less obsolete towards 

 the base and is quite absent in the type. Legs black, wiih sparse 

 black setae ; outer apical angle of tibiae very slightly produced ; tarsi 

 moderately long and stout. 



