Carabideous Insects from the Straits of Magellan. 135 



Elytra oblongo-ovata, postice distincte acuminata. 



Pedes longi ; tibia anteriores intiis emarginata? ; tarsi articulo penul- 

 timo bilobato, subtus spongiosi ; tarsi anteriores in maribus dilatati, 

 articulis oblongo-quadratis, subtus membranaceis. 



Sp. Abropus splendidus, Plate III. fig. 1. 



Metius splendidus, Guerin, Revue Zo ologique, No. 10, 1839, p. 297. 

 Abr. viridis ; supra splendide viridis ; antennis, palpis pedibusque 

 flavescentibus ; thorace fere quadrato, antice indistincte acuminato, 

 postice foveis duabus impresso ; elytris oblongo-ovatis, ad apicem 

 distincte acuminatis, leviter striatis, striis impunctatis. Long, 

 corp. 5 lin. ; lat. 2 lin. 



Hab. Tierra del Fuego. 

 Descrip. — Head elongated and pointed in front, with a large punc- 

 ture on each side near the inner margin of the eye, and two oblong 

 shallow foveas in front : eyes large and moderately prominent : an- 

 tenna? long and slender, when extended backwards reaching to about 

 the middle of the elytra. Thorax scarcely broader than the head, 

 nearly of a quadrate form, but slightly contracted in front ; the 

 anterior and posterior angles very nearly forming right angles ; 

 the upper surface but little convex, with a distinct dorsal channel 

 and two large and shallow posterior fovea? : minute transverse ruga? 

 are generally visible on the upper surface of the thorax. The elytra 

 are ample, and together are about twice as broad as the thorax, of 

 an elongated and subovate form ; the broadest part is rather behind 

 the middle, and at a short distance from the apex they are suddenly 

 contracted in width ; the point of each elytron is rounded : the sur- 

 face is rather delicately striated, but the stria? are obliterated near 

 the outer margin and on the apical portion of the elytron ; those 

 stria? nearest the suture are most distinct and continued nearly to the 

 point of the elytron : no punctures are observable in the stria?, the 

 interspaces are flat and impunctate. The upper surface of the head, 

 thorax and elytra is of a brilliant green colour ; the under surface of 

 the insect is chiefly of a deep green hue ; the head is of a pitchy red 

 colour beneath, but faintly tinted with greenish, and the labrum is 

 of the same tint ; the mandibles are testaceous at the base and black- 

 ish at the point ; the terminal segment of the abdomen is pitchy red 

 at the tip. The legs, antenna? and palpi are testaceous, but a slight 

 pitchy hue is observable in the middle of the terminal joints of the 

 palpi. The outer margin of the elytra is also reddish, and this tint is 

 more or less visible at the suture. 



This insect I feel no doubt is the Metius splendidus of Guerin ; it 

 differs however considerably from the Metius harpaloides * of Curtis, 

 which is the type of the genus Metius. The general form of the two 

 insects is very dissimilar, the one {Metius) having the form of a Har- 

 palus, and the other approaching more nearly in form to an Agonum. 

 Besides the difference in the general form, Abropus differs from Me- 

 tius in having much longer antenna? (as pointed out by M. Guerin), 

 in having longer legs, the head also more elongated, and the labrum 



* Transactions of the Linna?an Society, vol. xviii. p. 189. 



