Ceylon Coleoptera, 8fc, 



39 



Bashed with a bifid tooth. The 3rd joint of the maxill. palpi 

 is of the shape of an inverted cone, the 4th minute and trun- 

 cated at the apex. The thorax is of an obovate form, about 

 \ longer than broad, rounded off before and gradually 

 narrowed below the middle, subquadratic at the base, impres- 

 sed with 4 fovea3 or pits, the posterior angles rounded off. 

 Scutellum minute. Elytra with 2 short humeral costae, sepa- 

 rately rounded off at the apex. Legs stout ; 2 posterior coxae 

 distant ; tibiae slightly bent at the base, subcylindric at the 

 apex, the 4 anterior ones hairy ; tarsi with joints 1-4 gradually 

 decreasing in size, the anterior ones dilated, the joints trans- 

 versely triangular, the intermediate pair hairy on the inside. 

 Mesosternum of the preceding. Metasternum with a slight 

 longitudinal depression down the middle. Penultimate abdo- 

 minal segment grooved on the back as in S. alatus. In the 

 enlargement of the anterior tarsi lies, as in the other beetles, 

 undoubtedly a sexual distinction, as it is not equally strong 

 in all individuals. I may mention here that upon some of 

 the individuals I found ticks (some g. allied to Ixodes but 

 not a Gamasus) fastened, one of them having made a wound 

 such as, supposing it to be inflicted at a corresponding place 

 and on a proportionate scale, few animals of a higher order, 

 would, I think, have survived — still this little beetle appeared 

 perfectly at its ease. The parasite alluded to had fastened 

 itself right in the centre of the forehead, and the wound it 

 had inflicted in this, one should imagine most dangerous place, 

 w T as a deep hole or pit with a callous border. The latter led 

 me to infer that the injury was an old one, and the tick being 

 at the time fastened in it (and this so firmly that I had some 

 difficulty in detaching it), I felt sure it had been in this posi- 

 tion for months. The injury was observable under a slight 

 magnifier, and I think to compare it to one inflicted by a rifle- 

 ball would be greatly underrating its importance. 



