OCR Text |
Show 1900.] FROM SOUTH AND CENTRAL AFRICA. 205 LEMA DUNBRODIENSIS, sp. n. Fulvous, the breast and the abdomen black; thorax sub-cylindrical, strongly punctured at the middle; elytra strongly punctate-striate, pale fulvous ; a sutural band, a spot on the shoulders, and another at the sides anteriorly, black. Length 4 millim. Head fulvous, impunctate; the eyes entire, tbe accompanying grooves shallow and finely pubescent ; the labrum black; the antennae short and stout, fulvous, the second joint moniliforra, the third aud fourth equal, longer, the fifth and following joints subquadrately widened ; thorax subcylindrical, scarcely constricted at the base, the basal sulcus deep, the surface strongly punctured near the anterior angles and at the middle of the disc, tbe punctures at the latter place arranged in three rows; scutellum black; elytra paler in colour than the thorax, distinctly depressed below the base, strongly and closely punctate-striate, the punctures indistinct near the apex, the interstices not raised or slightly so near the lateral margins; the suture narrowly black, this colour extending laterally as far as the second row of punctures, and having a slight dilation near the depression and near the apex; a small black spot is placed on the shoulders, followed by a short stripe below at the lateral margin ; the breast and abdomen black, clothed with short yellow pubescence : the legs fulvous, the last joint of the tarsi and the claws more or less black. Hab. Dunbrody, Cape Colony, S. Africa. I received a single specimen of this species kindly sent by the Rev. O'Neil, who states that it is the only species he took in this locality by sweeping. LEMA NATALENSIS Jac. = L. tarsata Jac, var. Of this species M r . Marshall has sent m e some more specimens, which prove the insect to be a most variable one in regard to colour ; also that L. tarsata Jac. (described by m e P. Z. S. 1897, p. 241) is but one of the varieties. The species may always be recognized by the distinct tooth-like tubercles at the anterior angles of tbe thorax and the peculiar sculpture of the latter. The varieties at present before m e are :- a. The thorax and elytra fulvous, the former with a small black spot at the middle of the basal sulcation : legs piceous. b. Thorax and legs as in var. a, the elytra entirely dark blue. In the typical form L. natalensis the legs are fulvous and the tarsi black, the thorax and the elytra are either fulvous with a sutural and lateral bluish stripe or entirely dark blue; the head in all the forms is always black as well as the antennae, but the lower three or four joints of the latter are fulvous. The varieties have been obtained in Mashonaland. LEMA NIGROTIBIALIS, sp. n. Fulvous, the apical joints of the antennas, the tibiae (their base excepted) and the tarsi black; thorax not longer than broad, deeply |