No. 9. — 1856-8.] new ceylon coleoptera. 



31 



little or not at all prominent ; antennce s'uh approximate at 

 the base ; posterior trochanters elongated, incrassated at the 

 apex; thorax obovate ; body elongate, subdepressed, 



(a.) 



Mesosternal carina slight, simple. 



24. SCYDM^NUS ALATUS. N. 



S. dilute brunneus, pedibus antennisque dilutioribns, tarsi's palpisque 

 testaceis ; pubescens. Long. corp. § lin. 



Antennas art. 1° apice bi-acuminato, 3-4 subaaqualibus, 5 precedents 

 majore, 6 longitudine inter 4 et 5, ovato, 7-8 subasqualibus, 9 majore. 

 7-9 apice angustatis, tubif 'or mibus, 10 -11 ovatis, clavam formantibus, vel 

 art. 9 globoso, 9-11 clavam formantibus. Palpi maxill. art. ultimo 

 minimo apice truncato. Mandibulae dente bifido munitse, basi fortiter 

 abrupteque dilatatse. Thorax foveis basalibus nullis. Pedes elongati. 



I include in this species individuals with a two, and others 

 with a three, jointed antennal club. The latter are further dis- 

 tinguished by having a slight sinuosity in the rounded outline 

 of the basal angles of the thorax: by having the posterior 

 part of the rnetathorax and the base of the abdomen sensibly 

 incrassated : and the head rather less quadratic than the 

 former. However, the individuals thus distinguished being 

 in all other respects exactly like those with the two-jointed 

 club, I cannot help looking upon all these distinctions as 

 sexual ones and uniting the insects in the same species. 



The head from the eyes to the neck is of a transverse sub- 

 quadratic form merging into the oval by the angles being 

 rounded off; the anterior part is narrowed. And this is the 

 typical sculpture of the skull in all the five species of this group. 

 The eyes in the present species are middling. The antennae 

 are rather approximated at the base, and inserted in the 

 centre of the front under a ridge which runs across it from 

 eye to eye. The first joint is biacuminated at the apex : 

 the fifth is longer than the adjoining ones: joints 7-9 in the 

 individuals with the two-jointed and 7-8 in those with the 

 three-jointed club, are of a peculiar construction, being narrow- 

 ed at the apex and fitting into each other like the tubes of 



