146 NOTES ON AUSTRALIAN COLEOPTERA, 



Meriphus pullo, Er. 



I have recently taken a MerijjJius in several localities near 

 Sydney, which agrees with Dr. Erichson's description of M. 

 fullo in all respects except that the prothorax is by measurement 

 distinctly wider across the base than long. It is possible if Dr. 

 Erichson did not measure the proportions of his type that the 

 prothorax may have appeared to his eye more elongate than the 

 reality, and therefore it would not be safe to consider the Sydney 

 species distinct from the Tasmanian on account of this discrepancy. 

 The great distance between Sydney and Tasmania, nevertheless, 

 suggests the probability that if specimens from both localities 

 could be compared they would be found to present other 

 differences. 



Meriphus humep.ali.?, sp.nov. 



Sat angustus ; sat gracilis ; piceo-niger vel ferrugineus, femorum 

 basi tibiis rostro et antennarum scapo plus niinusve rufes- 

 centibus ; squamis albidis setiformibus parce vestitus ; 

 rostro maris capite prothoraceque conjunctis pauUo longiori, 

 feminse paullo magis elongate ; prothorace quam longiori 

 haud latiori ; antrorsum leviter angustato et constricto, 

 rugulose sat crasse punctulato, haud carinato ; elytris 

 punctulato-striatis, interstitiis alternis obscure granulatis, 

 squamis albis in humeris maculatim dense condensatis ; 

 femorum dentibus parvis. 



[Long, (rostr. incl.) l|-2, lat. ?-? line. 

 The whitish scales are evenly and thinly distributed except 

 that they are evidently condensed on the sides of the prothorax 

 and the shoulders of the elytra (where they form a conspicuous 

 white patch), that they clothe the scutellum densely, and that they 

 are somewhat linearly placed along the interstices of the elytra, 

 where, however, they are frequently interrupted in such fashion 

 that the intervals on which they are wanting appear as faint and 

 ill-defiued dark spots placed here and there along the interstices. 

 As this pattern is present in all of the several examples I have 

 seen, I think it is certainly not the result of abrasion. This 



