24 



ON THE CETONIID^ OF SOUTH AFRICA. 



that it appears to be an insect having a very wide range. But the truth is, that Dr. Smith has 

 brought many species which I find to be identical with those of Senegal, and some with those 

 even of Upper Egypt. 



Sp. 16, (Macrominus) Macroma scutellata, Fah. 



Macroma scutellaris^ G, P. p. 148. tab. 23. fig. 4. 



47, M. Gory assigns the name Macroma to Mr. Kirby. I am not aware of the work in 

 which Mr. Kirby has published it, but, at all events, this would not seem to have been the 

 name given by him to Macroma scutellata. If Mr. Hope be correct, the true Macroma of Mr. Kirby 

 is probably one of the sections of the sub-genus Schizorhina. Gory, in his errata," says, with a 

 ludicrous desire to be profoundly accurate, "Aux genres Macroma et Schyzorhina de Kirby il y 

 eu par megarde une transposition de noms ; ainsi nos Macroma sont les Schyzorhina de Kirby, et 

 les Schyzorhina de Kirby sont nos Macromes ! " Now, this is rather unfortunately asserted, 

 since, as S. ^-■punctata is the first species of the genus " Schyzorhina'' mentioned by Gory, 

 and S. atropunctata is Mr. Kirby 's type of his genus Schizorhina, (called Schyzorhina in 

 Dejean's catalogue,), and since these two species are so close as to be scarcely more than 

 varieties, why it is very clear that the Macroma scutellaris of Gory is not a Schizorhina of 

 Kirby, but that the Schizorhina of Kirby is the very same groupe as that mis-called 

 Schyzorhina by M. Dejean and his copier Gory. Whether Mr. Kirby be really acquainted 

 with the singular sub-genus Macroma, I know not ; for Gory, when he attributes the institu- 

 tion of his "genus Macroma" to our venerable countryman, evidently follows his usual, sole, 

 and sovereign authority, Dejean's Catalogue. I shall only say, that whoever first named this 

 sub-genera, pointed out a most natural and curious groupe. 



48. We shall now return to the sub-genus Diplognatha, which has a quadrate clypeus and 

 a thorax that commences to be lobate behind. It has also the terminal process of the maxilla 

 clothed behind with a brush of hair, and armed with curved corneous teeth at the apex, while 

 one of its sections has an irregular clypeus. But all these characters belong to Philistina, 

 which is a sub-genus of my Gymetinus. 



Genus IV. GYMNETINUS, K. 

 This is a groupe which is distinguished by the middle of the thorax being produced behind 

 into a lobe that conceals the scutellum in a greater or less degree, sometimes even entirely. 

 It is a genus which has the mentum always emarginate, and, like Macrominus, is entirely 

 extra-European. None of the species, however, are found on the African Continent.* This 

 genus answers to the family Gymnetidce of Kirby, and Gymnetides of MM. Gory and 

 Percheron ; but it is not easy to discover the rules which these gentlemen have followed in 

 distinguishing families from genera, or whether indeed they have had any rule at all, as they 

 rarely deign to characterize their groupes. All the sub-genera which I shall now proceed to 

 detail have the pseudonychia very distinct, except Agestrata and Lomaptera, where they 

 appear in some degree to be evanescent. I need scarcely say that I have not ascertained the 

 proper character by which to separate the normal from the aberrant groupe. 



* 1 see no good reason for believing that the Cetonia strigosa of Fabricius is a native of the Cape of Good Hope. 



