LIGYEFS. 315 



I. Tarsi antici utroque sexu simplices. 



l. Ligyrus latifovea. (Tab. xvm. fig. 15.) 



Heteronychus scarabceinus, Burm. Handb. der Ent. v. p. 100 1 ? 



Ligyrus scarabceinus , Burm. loc. cit. p. 542 (nee Cyclocephala scarabceina, Perty). 



Hab. Mexico, Teapa, Cosamaloapam (Salle). — South America 1 , Guiana, Amazons. 



Two examples (male and female), agreeing well with others from Demerara and 

 the Amazons with which I have compared them. Burmeister, as is clear from the 

 note following his description, confounded two widely-distinct species under his 

 L. scarabceinus. The " smaller-headed " form, with deeper thoracic excavation, to 

 which his unsatisfactory description chiefly applies, is that in which the anterior tarsi 

 are simple in both sexes; the "larger-headed" form, which appears to be equally 

 common in Guiana and the Amazons valley, has a strongly thickened anterior claw-joint 

 in the male, with the fourth joint produced and striated beneath. The latter is of a 

 deeper black colour, and more finely punctured ; the clypeus shows a wider space 

 between the apical teeth ; and the thoracic pit is narrower and triangular. This is, no 

 doubt, the Scarabceus ebenus of De Geer (Mem. Ins. iv. p. 317, 1. 19. f. 1), and according 

 to Kirsch (Berl. ent. Zeitschr. 1873, p. 346), for whom von Harold compared specimens 

 with the type at Munich, it is also the true Cyclocephala scarabceina of Perty. 



L. gyas, Erichs. (Schomburgk, Eeise Guian. iii. p. 561), is evidently closely allied to 

 L. latifovea; but the closely-punctured elytra and small shallow thoracic pit apply 

 better to a somewhat smaller species, of which I have many from the Amazons. 



Ligyrus latifovea varies in size from 27 to 37 millim. ; the clypeus is longer and more 

 narrowed anteriorly than in L. ebenus, and the apical teeth are much more nearly 

 approximated ; and the thorax has a higher and sharper frontal tubercle, and a much 

 broader (in large examples subquadrate) excavation. In both species the mandibles are 

 bidentate, and the tibise simply tridentate. 



2. Ligyrus tumulosus. 



Heteronychus tumulosus, Burm. Handb. der Ent. v. p. 101 \ 

 Ligyrus tumulosus, Burm. loc. cit. p. 542. 



Hab. % North America \ — Mexico, Vera Cruz (Hbge) ; British Honduras, Belize 

 (Blancaneaux). — South America, Colombia ; West Indies 1 . 



Burmeister describes L. tumulosus as reddish-brown and strongly punctured (including 

 the pygidium), with broad bidentate clypeus and front transversely carinated (carina 

 depressed in the middle), and the thorax furnished with a feeble frontal tubercle and 

 slight depression. These characters apply to a species of which I find only two 

 examples in our collections, and which is very distinct from the deceptively-similar 

 L. sallcei described below. To Burmeister's diagnosis must be added the important 



2 SS2 



