594 NEW SPECIES OF AUSTRALIAN COLEOPTERA, 



others with hard or compartively hard leaves, from which the 

 varnished specimens were taken; moreover, wherever the varnish 

 is seen scales and the smaller punctures are invariably absent. 



Posthumeral npines. — These are subject to very great variation; 

 in some specimens they are fully four times the size that they are 

 in others; in most sharp, in a few appearing as little more than 

 a rather sharply pointed granule or even obtuse tubercle. In 

 the majority of specimens the}" are usualh' directed a very little 

 backwards from a right angle with the derm; in others they are 

 pointed a little forwards. Their apices are usually slightly 

 recurved backwards, but occasionally forwards; in some they are 

 perfectly straight. They are nearly always black, but sometimes 

 tinged with red. 



Discal spines. — These also are individually as well as sexually 

 variable. In colour they vary from pale red to pitchy-black. In 

 the males they are usually (but not invariably) placed much 

 closer to the base than in the females, and are much more slender; 

 in the latter sex they are frequently almost equal in length and 

 thickness, and may usually be described as briefly conical and 

 almost straight. In the males the posterior pair are sometimes 

 fully thrice the length of the anterior, but they are usually about 

 once and one-half to once and two-thirds their length; in a few 

 specimens I have examined they are almost equal. They are 

 usually cui'ved inwards at their apices, but are occasionally 

 straight. The apices of the anterior spines are occasionally in a 

 direct line with the base of rostrum, sometimes with anterior 

 coxa?, but usually with the posthumeral spines. They are some- 

 times smooth and shining throughout, but usually appear as if 

 obsoletely granulate, especially at their apices, where they are 

 also usually provided with blackish setse; their lengths vary from 

 one to four millimetres. 



Sexes. — Besides differences noted elsewhere, the sexes are 

 usually different in size, the male being a smaller and more 

 convex insect with larger and more distinct punctures, coarser 

 elytral interstices, longer legs, wider tarsi, the dentition of 

 anterior tibite more distinct, larger club, shorter rostrum, thorax 



