ON A NEW SPECIES OF CERAPTERUS. 



75 



Sub-genus. Arthropterus, M'L. 



Caput thorace baud augustius, collo conspicuo, oculis magnis. Thorax longior quam 

 latus, sub-quadratus. Scutellum minimum. Elytra angusta parallela, apice truncata 

 abdomine breviora. Tibia lateribus baud parallebs apice bispinosis. Tarsi intra 

 tibiarum apices excavates baud retractiles. 



Tbis groupe inhabits New Holland. 

 Sp. 1. Arthropterus MacLeaii, Don. 



Descr. a i^thro]) terits rvLio-brmmens ; thorace siibconvexo postic^ augustiore, auguhs anticis rotuu- 

 datis, disco medio vix canaliculate. 



Cajmt subpunctatuui thorace latius. Antennw lateribus paralleHs baud serratis, articulo 

 ultimo piano tribus precedentibus simul sumptis vix longiore. Thorax angustus, antice latior 

 ang-ulis anticis rotundatis, posticis acutis. Elytra thorace latiora, et non triple longiora, 

 oblongo-quadrata lateribus parallelis. Ped^ rufo-brunnei. 

 Cera,pterus 3facLmii, Don. Ins. of New Holland, pi. 3. 



Note. The only specimen known of this species was purchased by my father at the sale of Mr. 

 Francillon's museum. None of the authors who have written on the species ever saw it, 

 except Donovan, who was its first describer in his work on the " Insects of New Holland." 

 There is another species of Arthropterus, which I have seen in the valuable collection of my 

 friend Mr. John Curtis, and which differs from A. MacLeaii in the form of the thorax, and in 

 the body being more depressed. I am ignorant which of these two my brother, Mr, George 

 MacLeay, has lately found, or whether his discovery may not prove, on comparison, to be still 

 a third species. But I learn, by a letter from my father, that my brother, " in one of his late 

 excursions into the interior of New South Wales, discovered several specimens of ' Cerap- 

 terus MacLeaii' in the nests of ants, and, moreover, remarked, that when alive they had the 

 power of exploding, after the manner of Brachini." The first of these observations with 

 respect to the economy of ^r^/irop^m^s agrees perfectly with what M. Verreaux noticed of the 

 Paussi of the Cape ; and my brother's second observation accords with that of M. Dupont's 

 correspondent on the Senegal species, Paussus excavatus. I hope, however, as I am about to 

 visit Australia, soon to be able to make myself master of the economy of these interesting 

 insects, and also to publish a correct representation of the parts of their mouth. 



