394 L P£ringuey, 102 
It follows therefore that the more southern the Karroo area, the more endemic are the forms of insect 
life, but somewhat to the eastward the changes of the Karroo into the Karroo- and Grass- Veld of Bush- 
mannland, and the Grass- and Thorn-bush of Bechuanaland and Hereroland proves a link in the distribution 
of the endemic forms with those that will be met as far as the Cunene in the North, the Orange River 
Colony and the Western Transvaal, and to the South, through the Transkeian part of the Cape Colony 
with the Colony of Natal along the Seaboard of which penetrates the Fauna of Central East Africa. To 
the west runs from Cape Lopez, almost under the Equator, a huge belt of sand penetrating as far as 70 
miles inland in some places, and terminating practically near Cape Town. On this belt is a Coleopterous 
fauna of its own which seems however to have sent off-shoots to these sandy and stony wastes so numerously 
dotted in Namaqualand and Bushmanland in the Cape Colony, Great Namaqua- and Hereroland, British 
Bechuana- and N'Gamiland. 
It is only when the lay of the Vegetation is carefully considered that we can readily realise the 
distribution of Insect life in the South African area. 
Family Tenebrionidae. 
Dr. L. Schultze has captured 99 kinds of representatives of this family of Coleoptera. 
Zeophosinae: The Zeophosinae number 13 species, 6 of wich are new. These insects run with 
almost incredible speed, and they affect mostly sandy places. In life they are covered on the upper side 
with a greyish pulverulence where the ground is greyish, or slightly fulvous where the ground contains 
oxide of iron. So well do the insects harmonise with the ground, when not in motion, that they are hardly 
to be found, but when running their gait betrays them although their coating still hides them, and the 
collector may well wonder at an ovate piece of reddish ground moving along with great velocity, and which 
on being seized turns out to be Zophosis muricata. This pulverulent coating comes off however very readily 
on capture, but the underside of the body is bare. More protected, that is to say if it is assumed that the 
colouring affords protection, is Calosis amabilis, the elytra of which are partly pure white, or white tessellated 
with reddish brown. Although I have not captured myself this sand loving insect, I am assured that it is 
very difficult of detection. I shall say something late on about this very unusal System of white coloration. 
The distribution of Zophosinae in Africa is very wide indeed ; the are found from Algeria to the 
Cape of Good Hope. The South African area comprises more species than any other part of Africa, and 
many more are still to be described. But the study of this tribe, especially of the genus Zophosis is 
extremely difficult owing to the instability of the specific characters, a lack of stability due to their mode 
of life. Being wingless one should expect that they would have less chance of mixing with their congeners 
living at some distance, but their great agility counterbalances their inferiority in this respect, and it is 
only such species the habitat of which is widely separated from that of others that present characters 
sufficiently dissimilar to have them recognised as plainly, specifically distinct. Yet there is a species, i. e. 
Z. boei which may be said to occur all over the South African area. The genera Calosis, Onychosis, Ophthal- 
mosis, Anisosis, Cardiosis can be said to be endemic, although their habitat seem also to be prolonged perhaps 
further north than the Cunene River. The species of this genera are provided with very long tibial spurs 
which stand them in good stead for galopping over the ever shifting sands of the dunes of the sea board. 
I may add that when danger of capture threatens, most kinds of Zophosis which I have watched runs in 
interrupted semi-circles with a rapidity wich often baffles the would-be capturer. 
