TEICONDYLA. 



273 



thickly punctured (especially at the sides), under surface finely 

 striate and distinctly punctured ; metasternum practically impunc- 

 tate ; elytra with the shoulders less rectangular, somewhat dilated 

 behind, much more finely punctured, with the punctures more 

 widely distant on the anterior third, distinctly thicker behind the 

 middle, and elongate and linear before the apex, the punctuation 

 of the apex itself being rather close and fine, while the extreme 

 margin is dark metallic and not testaceous as in the two pre- 

 ceding species ; a short and broad reddish fascia at the centre 

 and a thin rui'escent line behind the shoulders are present ; the 

 palpi are blue-black, and the tibiae and tarsi cyaneous ; the head 

 also is cyaneous, and the pronotum greenish cyaneous, the elytra 

 being dull green and of a brighter olivaceous green towards base. 



Length 14 millim. (13 mm. sine labro). 



Madras : Nilgiri Hills. 



The sculpture of the elytra is of the same character as in 

 M. variicornis, except that the punctures are less close on the 

 front half, and especially towards the base; behind the middle 

 they are closer to one another. 



Genus TRICONDYLA. 



Tricondyla, Latreille, Latr. et Dej., Hist. Nat. Col. Eur. i, 1822, 

 p. 65 ; Dejean, Spec. Col. i, 1825, p. 160; Lacordaire, Gen. Col. i, 

 1854, p. 28 ; Chaudoir, Bull. Soc. Moscou, 1860, p. 284. 



Collyris, Fabricius {ex parte), Syst. El. i, 1801, p. 226. 



Colliurix, Latreille {ex parte), Cuvier's Regne Animal, iii, 1817, 

 p. 179. 



Type, Tricondyla aptera, Oliv. 



The genus Tricondyla is here regarded as separate from Dero- 

 crania ; it appears to be entirely a matter of opinion whether 

 they should be considered generically or subgenerically distinct. 

 The characteristic large dark species of Tricondyla bear much the 

 same relation to the delicate species of Derocrania, such as 

 D. nietneri, Mots., and D. amies, W. Horn, that the large species 

 of the genus Collyris bear to the delicate species of Neocollyris, 

 such as N. linearis, N. subtilis, &c. It is true that no intermediate 

 species occur between Collyris and Neocollyris, whereas we do find 

 intermediate forms between Tricondyla and Derocrania, but on 

 the whole the analogy holds, and I have therefore separated 

 them. 



The chief characters of Tricondyla are as follows : — Head large, 

 deeply excavate, with a distinct parallel-sided neck behind the 

 eyes, not strangulate ; eyes large and very prominent ; antennae 

 long, filiform ; labrum large, with six teeth, the central four 

 being broad and blunt and the lateral ones sharper ; maxillary 

 palpi with the first joint slightly inflated, the second a little 

 shorter than the first, and the third long, almost as long as the 

 two others together ; mentum very short at base, without, or with 

 only a rudimentary, central tooth, side lobes much produced and 



T 



