Part 50

{68}SPHÆROCORIS ANNULUS.

Plate XLVI. fig. 9.

ORDER: Hemiptera. SUBORDER: Heteroptera. SECTION: Geocorisa. FAMILY: Pentatomidæ.

GENUS. SPHÆROCORIS, Burmeister. Tetyra, Fabr. Cimex, Drury.

SPHÆROCORIS ARGUS. Lutea, guttis 15 pallidis sive rubris nigro-cinctis. (Long. Corp. lin. 4.)

SYN. Cimex annulus, Fabr. Ent. Syst. 4. 82. 10. Syst. Rh. 132. 20. (Tetyra A.)

Cimex Argus, Drury, App. vol. 3. (nec Fabr. Syst. Rh. 533.) Stoll Cim. pl. 7. fig. 50.

Sphærocoris Argus, Burmeister Hemipt. 391. No. 2?

Scutellera gibbosa, Pal. Beauv. Ins. d'Afr. et d'Amer. Hemipt. pl. 5. b. f. 3.

HABITAT: Sierra Leone.

Head dark cream colour, with two black lines from the front to the hinder part. Thorax dark cream, with two waved bands crossing it from side to side, of a darker colour. Scutellum very large, and entirely covering the abdomen. This part is high and rounded, of the same colour with the rest of the insect, having a number of oval, circular, and other shaped marks thereon. Beneath dark-cream; breast and fore-part lightest. Rostrum extending below the hinder legs, all of which are of the same dark cream colour with the other parts.

There is some confusion as to the specific names of the insects composing the present genus. The Tetyra Argus of Fabricius, with which the species here figured (from Sierra Leone) was considered identical by Drury, is an inhabitant of South America. Dr. Burmeister has also confused it with a species from the Cape of Good Hope.

PLATE XLVII.

ELATER (TETRALOBUS) FLABELLICORNIS.

Plate XLVII. fig. 1.

ORDER: Coleoptera. SECTION: Serricornes. FAMILY: Elateridæ.

GENUS. ELATER, Linn, &c. (SUBGENUS: Tetralobus, Encycl. Méth.)

ELATER (TETRALOBUS) FLABELLICORNIS. Fuscus, antennis 8-laminatis, elytris nitidis lævibus. (Long. Corp. 2 unc. 6 lin.)

SYN. Elater flabellicornis, Linn. Syst. Nat. 1. 11. p. 651. 1.? Fabr. Syst. Ent. 1. App. p. 824. 1.? Syst. Eleuth. II. p. 221. 2.? De Jean Catal. Col. 2nd Edit. 85. Oliv. Ent. II. 31. p. 8. t. 3. fig. 28.? Herbst. Col. ix. p. 320. t. 127. f. 1.?

Elater Gigas, Fabr. Syst. Eleuth. II. p. 221. 1.?

HABITAT: Sierra Leone (Drury, Afzelius, Schonh.). Guinea (De Jean). India (Linn. Fabr. Oliv.).

Head rather small, square, surrounded with a small black margin; palpi very short. Antennæ black; those of the male laminated, having eight distinct plates or laminæ laying close to each other, which, when closed together, appear to be of equal thickness. General colour dark or dirty brown. Thorax with a black margin, terminating on the sides in two sharp spines. Scutellum small. Elytra smooth and glossy, without any margin, and rounded at the extremities, without spines. Sternum black and small. Beneath of the same colour as the upper side.

{69}This figure has been usually cited as the Elater flabellicornis Linn., the habitat of which is said to be India, whereas the real habitat of Drury's insect, as confirmed by Afzelius and De Jean, is Sierra Leone and Guinea. This insect was sometimes found by Mr. Smeathman in the evenings, having flown into the houses, to which it was attracted by the lights.

ELATER (AGRYPNUS) QUADRI-MACULATUS.

Plate XLVII. fig. 2.

ORDER: Coleoptera. SECTION: Serricornes. FAMILY: Elateridæ.

GENUS. ELATER, Linn. &c. (SUBGENUS: Agrypnus, Eschscholtz.)

ELATER (AGRYPNUS) QUADRI-MACULATUS. Cinereus, thoracis punctis quatuor, elytris fasciis duabus undulatis nigris. (Long. Corp. 9 lin.)