Megalostylus

Megalostylus agrees with Cyphus in having the posterior tibiæ laminate and squamose at the apex, and their articular surface ascending, and the rostrum deeply, triangularly emarginate at the tip (so that there is no definite bare nasal plate) and sides; the outer striæ of the elytra are entire; and the scape of the antennæ of the male is very stout, as in Platyomus. It is related to the Antillean Apotomoderes, which has toothed, strongly clavate anterior femora and the corbels of the posterior tibiæ small and open, and to the new genus described below, in which the intermediate and posterior femora are so deeply excavate near the apex as to appear toothed. The species, so far as at present known, are all confined to Mexico*. They are extremely variable in size and in the colour of the scales (there being both green and cinereous forms† in at least three species); and the prothorax sometimes differs in shape in the two sexes, as in certain Steirarrhinus. The males may be known by their longer and stouter antennal scape, the broader third tarsal joint, the unguiculate apex of the intermediate tibiæ, and the more or less hollowed first ventral segment; the females are broader, and often have the prothorax less sinuate at the base and the hind angles more extended outwards than in the males. The anterior tibiæ are toothed at the outer apical angle in both sexes. The smallest specimens seen, as in Megalostylodes, are females. Unfortunately, nothing has been recorded of the habits of these insects.* M. albicans has been recorded from California, probably in error, and M. renggeri, Labr. et Imhoff, from Paraguay, must belong to a different genus.

† As in Hadromerus, Cyphus, Atactogenus, &c.