^EGIDIUM.— OCHOD^US. 105 



Fam. ORPHNmE. 



iEGIDIUM. 



Mgidmm, Westwood, Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond. iv. p. 173 (1846). 



An exclusively Tropical-American genus. Five species have been described. 



1. JEgidium colombianum. 



JEgidium colombianum, Westw. Trans. Ent. Soc. iv. p. 174, t. 12. ff. 7, 8 1 ; Lacord. Gen. Col., 

 Atlas, t. 28. f. 1. 



Hab. Colombia ; Venezuela 1 . 



Var. cribratum. (Tab. YII. figg. 1, S ', 1 #, side view of head and thorax ; 2, $ .) 

 A typo differt toto corpore fortius et densius (capite creberrime) punctato ; elytris ( $ ) interdum confluenter 



confertim punctatis. 

 Long. 10-14 millini. <$ $ . 



Hab. Panama, Volcan de Chiriqui (Champion). 



Var. squamatum. 

 Crebre punctatum, punctis omnibus squama incumbente conspicua fulva munitis. 

 Long. 12-14 millim. <$ $ . 



Hab. Nicaragua, Chontales (Janson). 



The two varieties described agree in all structural points with M. colombianum^ but 

 differ from it greatly in their denser and coarser punctuation, especially of the upper sur- 

 face. Westwood describes the head and thorax as smooth and shining : in a Venezuelan 

 example I find them sprinkled with minute points, denser, however, on the anterior 

 part of the head. Flat scales in the punctures are visible, at least on the elytra, in 

 the typical species ; but they are very conspicuous, and give a tawny-brown tint to 

 the whole body, in the var. squamatum. 



OCHOD^US. 



Ochodavs, Lepeletier de Saint-Eargeau & Serville, Encycl. Meth. x. p. 360(1825); Westwood, 

 Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond. n.s. ii. p. 63 (1852) ; Horn, Trans. Am. Ent. Soc. 1876, p. 177. 



A genus of very wide distribution, but the species are nowhere abundant in individuals. 

 The majority inhabit the temperate zone of both the Eastern and Western hemispheres; 

 the remainder being sparingly scattered over South America, and tropical Asia and 

 Africa. Twenty -five species have been described; but, as is evident on reading 

 Dr. Horn's excellent analysis of the North-American forms, it is impossible to discrimi- 

 nate them without close attention to the sexual differences and various peculiarities of 



biol. cente.-amer., Coleopt., Vol. II. Pt. 2, October 1887. PP 



