oj the Genus Deretaphrus. ccix 



and more corneous men turn ; and in its smaller, narrower and more pubescent 

 ligula. 



T. V. Wollaston. 



The genus Deretaphrus was first characterized by myself at p. 403 of ' The 

 Entomologist' for October, 1842, and four species were described, all of them 

 Australian : no critical observations are appended, but it is placed as an ally of 

 the Ptinidae. 



The second notice of the genus, obligingly pointed out to me by Mr. Janson, 

 is at p. 287 of the ' Naturgischichte der Insecten Deutschlands,' from the pen 

 of that great Coleopterist, Erichson, who (agreeing with Mr. Wollaston) 

 places it in his family Colydii, thus characterized : — " Antennae recta?, clavatae 

 vel capitulatae. Coxae anteriores globosae, posticae transversales semicylindricae. 

 Tarsi 4-articulati. Abdomen segmentis ventralibus 5, anterioribus 3 vel 4 im- 

 mobilibus." Erichson divides the family into seven groups, of which the third 

 is thus distinguished : — " Palpi filiformes. Pedes postici distantes. Abdomen 

 segmento ventrali primo reliquis majore." In this group the genera are three in 

 number, and are thus tabulated : — 



I covered ... ... ... ... Deretaphrus. 



(approximate ... Sostlus. 

 free: anterior legsj 



(distant ... Bothrideres. 



The third of these genera only is German ; the others are therefore only briefly 

 alluded to. Deretaphrus is thus noticed : — " Deretaphrus of Newman is a New 

 Holland form of more attenuated and more cylindrical shape than Bothrideres, 

 and also differs from this genus partly in having the club of the antennae triarti- 

 culate, and partly in having the mouth entirely covered beneath by a flat continu- 

 ation of the margin of the throat: the pits also in which the anterior legs 

 articulate are divided from each other by a narrow partition only ; and the inter- 

 mediate legs likewise are not widely separated. The thorax has a central 

 longitudinal furrow. Of the four species given by Newman, loc. cit., only the 

 first, D. fossus, Newm., from which the generic character is drawn up, and per- 

 haps also the second, D. puteus, Newm., which the royal collection of this place 

 does not possess, are to be referred to Deretaphrus; the other two appear to 

 belong to Bothrideres : on the other hand, there are in our collection three non- 

 descript species of Deretaphrus." 



The third notice of the genus occurs at p. 222 of the ' Linnaea Entomologica,' 

 in a paper intituled " Beitrage sur Insecten fauna von Adelaide, von E. F. 

 Germar," published in 1848. The type species is the same, but unfortunately 

 both genus and species are renamed as new, no mention whatever being made of 



