| OCR Text |
Show 1888.] COLEOPTERA OF CHRISTMAS ISLAND. 541 the prothorax is somewhat uneven and sparsely punctured on disk, and the elytra are punctate and have a brownish-grey pubescence dotted with numerous glabrous spots. PRAONETHA PERPLEXA, n. sp. Pube brunneo-grisea tecta; prothorace punctato, elytris postice gradatim declivibus, dense punctatis, nee cristatis, singulo tenuiter bicarinato, apicibus subrotundatis. Long. 9-14 millim. Head covered with a brownish or fulvous-grey pubescence, which is distinctly fulvous on the cheeks and in spots on the front, especially near the base. The pubescence almost conceals the punctures, which are somewhat sparse on the front, cheeks, and vertex. Prothorax with a close brownish-grey pubescence, with its sides apparently feebly rugose, the punctures on the disk scarcely visible beneath the pubescence. The elytra are distinctly and rather strongly punctured, especially towards the sides, and have a mixed pubescence of brownish grey, fulvous grey, and ashy grey on the anterior two thirds, and a fulvous-grey pubescence on the apical declivous portion. There is also a small distinctly fulvous spot on each side of the rather broad scutellum, the latter is brownish pubescent. The two ridges on each elytron begin at about a third of the length from the base, and end on the posterior declivous part at some distance from the apex, the outer ridge extending back a little farther than the inner. Just in front of the anterior termination of the inner ridge there is on the disk of each elytron a broad and somewhat rounded shallow depression, and in front of this again a broad and feebly raised hump, but no crest. The underside of the body is covered with a brownish or fulvous-grey pubescence, and each of the first four abdominal segments has a distinctly tawny fringe on the posterior margin. The legs have a somewhat mottled appearance, greyish sprinkled with dark brown. Antennae a little shorter than the body, with the basal joint dark brown and sparsely fulvous pubescent, the remaining joints fulvous grey, with their tips somewhat fuscous ; the fourth joint is about as long as the second and third together, the fifth about half as long as the fourth, the following joints gradually decreasing in length. The present species does not agree with any of the descriptions of the numerous species of the genus; but as many of these descriptions are short and inadequate it is impossible to determine it with certainty. MlCRACANTHA, sp. 1 A single slightly rubbed specimen, belonging to a species apparently closely allied to, if not identical with, M. abdominalis, White. The latter is a widely distributed species ; it ranges from N. Australia (Port Essington) to Sumatra,'and one specimen in the British Museum Collection (the Coptops modica of Dejean's Catalogue) is from the Philippine Islands. PROC. ZOOL. Soc-1888, No. XXXVII. 37 |
