April — june, 1857.] Descriptions of new Ceylon Coleopter a. 55 



quentibus 2 longiore, 2° parvo, 3-11 subaequalibus. Thorax sub- 

 cordatus, basi transversim truncatus leviterque prolongatus. Pedun- 

 culus brevis. Elytra apice fortiter subquadrate truncata, costata, 

 costis 16 majoribus, in interstitiis subtilissime bicostulata, in sulcis 

 (sulco e tribus inter costas binas majores medio excepto) tenuiter 

 pilosa, in omnibus transversim regulosa. Pedes anteriores tibiis 

 sat fortiter emarginatis, tarsis maris art. 1-3 leviter dilatatis, subtus 

 squamularum seriebus 2 munitis, art. 1 elongato-trigono, 2-3 

 rotundato-trigonis, 3° prsecedente parum minore, 4° parvo cordato 

 3° plus sesqui minore, his omnibus angulis acuminatis, 5° magno, 

 unguibus eimplicibus. 



This diagnosis may appear somewhat vague, still I have been 

 unable to express the characteristics of the insects from which it is 

 drawn in more precise terms, although they have features quite pe- 

 culiar to themselves by which they are easily recognised when once 

 seen. 



The points on which the three spec, which form this g. more or 

 less disagree are the following : 1, the labrum: this is more trans- 

 verse in H. elegans and less deeply emarginated in H. ruficollis 

 than in the other two spec, respectively — still in all three it is emar- 

 ginated and has moreover the peculiarity of being furnished with 

 bristles at the two anterior corners : 2, the mentum : this is sub- 

 quadratically emarginated, the lobes being strongly rounded on the 

 outer side, and abruptly acuminated at the apex, at the base of the 

 emargination it is furnished with a broad, excavated tooth which is 

 inflected and obtuse at the apex — so far all three species agree — 

 however, whilst in H, elegans and ruficollis this tooth is slightly 

 emarginated, at the apex, it is sharply notched in H. bimaculata, 

 in fact bilobed, the lobes being large and rounded at the apex. I 

 look upon this notch, which is sharp but not deep, as a mere varia- 

 tion from the emargination existing at the apex of the tooth of the 

 former two species. 3, the palpi : these, labial as well as maxillary 

 ones, have their terminal joint truncated at the apex — and so far 

 again all three species agree — however, whilst this joint is of ellip- 

 tic form in the palpi of H. ruficollis f it is in H. elegans only so in 

 the labial ones that of the maxillary ones being cylindric at the base. 



