BY ARTUl•I^ :\[. LEA. 389 



DiTROPIDUS IMI'KRIALIS Clip. 



Seven females, t'loiu Cape York, Coen, and Cairns, appear to belong to this 

 species, the finest of its genus from Australia; only one agrees at all well with the 

 type in colours, the others have the prothorax and soutellum coppery or coppery- 

 red, and tlie elytra deep purple, or purplish-hlne ; on some of them the antennae 

 have the basal joint no darker than the second, but on two it is partly infuscated; 

 the distance between the eyes is about e(iual to the length of the two basal joints 

 of antennae. Two males, from Cairns, differ in being smaller, 4 — i.25 mm., the 

 eyes larger and closer together, the distance between them less than the length 

 of the basal joint, front legs stouter, abdomen smaller, sloping to base and apex, 

 and non-foveate, and the clothing of the under surface denser; the prothornx and 

 scutellum are coppery with a slight greenish gloss, the head is darker and the 

 elytra are purple. 



DlTROl'IDU.S INsrLARIS Lea. 



(D. chalceus Lea: D. lateralis Lea.) 



After reexamining the types and many other specimens I now believe that 

 D. chalceus and D. lateralis can only be regarded as varietal forms of D. insularis; 

 the upper surface is usually brassy, but varies to entirely blue, the legs vary from 

 entirely dark to almost entirely red; the prothoracic punctures are always sharply 

 <lefined, and are fairly dense. The species is evidently close to D. distingnendus, 

 but all the specimens before me are larger, up to 3.5 mm. in leug-th, than the 

 type of that species, and the prothorax could not be regarded as "lateraliter 

 strigero . " 



DiTROPIDUS xiGRicOLLis Lea. 



A male, from Northern Queensland, probably belongs to this species, but 

 differs from the type in being smaller, 1.75 mm., the head and prothorax reddish- 

 flavous, and elytra flavous (except that there is a narrow black line at the junc- 

 tion of the prothorax and elytra) ; its under surface has a conspicuous black cross, 

 the upriglit part of which extends from the prosternal process to the end of the 

 first abdominal segment, and the cross-piece is on the metasternum, ending abruptly 

 at the episterna. Another male, from Sydney, agrees with it. except that the 

 cross-piece on the under surface is larger and less sharply defined, its sides in- 

 eluding the metasternal episterna. 



DiTROPIDUS suBSiMiLis Lea. 



A female of this species, from the Blue Mountains, differs from the types in 

 having a small, round, black spot, towards each side of the pronotum. 



DiTROPIDUS NIGRIPENXIS Lea. 



On the male of this species the clyi^eus is depressed in the middle, and each 

 side is elevated into a small subtriangular, slightly curved, black-tipped process, 

 about half the length of the basal joint of the antennae; the armature is different 

 from that of D. corimius, and there are many other differences of sculptui'e and 

 colour . 



Var. a. Three males, from .lenolan, agree so closely with the types that I 

 cannot regard them as representing a distinct species, but the processes on the 

 head are much longer (somewhat longer than the basal joint of the antennae) more 

 stronglv cur\ed. and conspicuous from most directions. 



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