312 INSECTS OP THE CAIRNS DISTRICT, NORTHERN QUEENSLAND, 



striate-pimctate. The prosternnm is broad and prominent 



between the fore legs, declivous in front and not produced, and 



depressed and broad behind, the surface marked with two deep 



strise. The legs are rather short and strong, the thighs swollen, 



the tibiae a little curved, the posterior ones much bellied above the 

 middle, the tarsi reddish pubescent. 



Length, 5 lines. 



Hab.—Mossman River. 



Family CISTELIDvE. 



Genus Synatractus. 



Head produced, narrowly necked, clypeus large, square, emar- 

 ginate in the middle, labrum a little transverse, emarginate like 

 the clypeus. Eyes very large, not approximate. Antennae 

 extending to the first third of the elytra, the first joint large, the 

 second short, the rest all of the same length till the apical one, 

 which is elongate and thrice the length of any of the others ; the 

 maxilliary palpi are acutely cultriform. The thorax is of the 

 width of the head, a little longer than wide, rounded at the 

 anterior angles, not broader behind than in front, with a deep 

 constriction at the base, and with the margin behind it sharply 

 refiexed and showing a minute tooth on each side. Elytra much 

 Avider than the thorax, and widening somewhat to near the apex. 

 Legs slender, the tibiae not spurred. 



58. Synatractus variabilis. 



Of elongate aiid rather flattened form. Head with some 

 irregular depressions between the eyes, the clypeal suture deeply 

 impressed and nearly straight, the labrum narrower and shorter 

 than the clypeus. Thorax entirely smooth. Elytra four times 

 the length of the thorax, widening from the humeral angles back- 

 wards, densely punctate striate, with a short scutellar stria. The 

 colour varies very much, from yellowish-red all over to reddish- 

 brown, the elytra sometimes even dark brown or varied with 



