NEOCOLLYEIS. 



229 



Dr. Horn in describing C. dormeri refers to a specimen in the 

 Oxford Museum, labelled in Chaudoir's handwriting " caviceps 

 Klug, = longicoUis, F. = grandis, Hope," which he believed, from 

 recollection, ought to be referred to the first-named species. 

 I found the specimen among the Oxford species, which Professor 

 Poulton has kindly lent me, and forwarded it to Dr. Horn, who 

 pronounced it to be C. mniszechi. 



Genus NEOCOLLYRXS. 



Neocollyris, W. Horn, Deutsche Ent. Zeitschr. 1001, p. 4-5. 



Type, Colly ris bonelli, Guerin. 



This genus appears to be abundantly distinct from the pre- 

 ceding, and comprises over a hundred species, which are almost 

 entirely confined to India and the Malayan region ; about eight 

 occur in Tonkin and China, but the genus is not represented 

 outside the above-named regions. They are, for the most part, 

 small and very slender insects, with the elytra of a bright blue 

 colour, and more or less strongly punctured ; they vary however, in 

 colour, size, and sculpture, some having the elytra with no metallic 

 lustre, and strongly rugose in the middle. Many of them are 

 exceedingly hard to distinguish, and the chief difference, in many 

 cases, is found in the shape of the pronotum, which is generally 

 more or less lngenoid or flask-shaped, and is always contracted 

 in front into a longer or shorter collum ; the elytra are very 

 rarely, and never entirely, connate, being usually quite free, and 

 wings are always present ; the legs are elongate and all the tarsi 

 are spongy pubescent beneath with the fourth joint asymmetrically 

 dilated ; the anterior pair are somewhat variable as to dilatation. 

 The species are, apparently, arboreal, but very little is known 

 of their habits ; the dilated fourth joint of the tarsi is probably 

 of use in clinging to foliage ; their flight is very rapid. 



The sexes are very easily distinguished, as the last abdominal 

 tergite of the female has on its posterior margin six blunt, more 

 or less hook-like processes, three on each side, and on the posterior 

 margin of the last sternite there are two sharp and straight (rarely 

 blunt and curved) short processes, which are always visible from 

 above, even when the segment is withdrawn, and the hook-like 

 processes hidden. The head is usually broader in the female than 

 in the male, and in some species this is very evident, especially 

 as regards thf> long portion of the vertex behind the eyes ; in 

 some species, also, the antennae are longer in the male, and slight 

 differences occur in the shape of the pronotum and the elytra. 

 The tarsi have the fourth joint dilated on one side in both sexes, 

 but are somewhat variable in different species as regards the 

 clothing of the under surface. 



Chaudoir comments on the extreme scarcity of the males as 

 compared with the females ; the latter sex is certainly the more 

 plentiful, but I have seen a very considerable number of males in 



