159 



REVISION OF THE GENUS PAROPSIS. 



By Rev. T. Blackburn, B.A., Corresponding Member. 



Part VI. 



[Treating of the species forming Groups i., ii. and v., as characterised in 

 P.L.S.N.S.W. 1896, p. 638.] 



In this (the concluding) part of my Revision of the genus 

 Faropsis I propose to deal with the groups which in m}'- tabula- 

 tion of groups (P.L.S.N.S.W. 189G, p. 638) are numbered i.. ii. 

 and V. I find, however, as a result of studying the very large 

 number of species that have come into my hands since I drew up 

 that tabulation, that the distinctness of Groups ii. and v. cannot 

 be maintained. Dr. Chapuis based his classification of Paropsis 

 entirely on the sculpture of the elytra, and consequently grouped 

 together in his first aggregate species that differed inter se in the 

 structure of the prothorax, in my opinion a much more important 

 character, and divided the genus thus : — 



1. Species having the elytral punctures without linear arrange- 

 ment. 



2. Species having the elytral punctures partially linear. 



3. Species having the elytral punctures wholly linear and in 10 

 rows. 



4. Species having the elytral punctures wholly linear and in 

 more numerous rows. 



This classification involved the^ intermingling, in two of 

 Chapuis' aggregates, of species having the prothorax normal 

 laterally and species having the prothorax sinuous and mucronate 

 laterally; and I proposed to amend that flaw by regarding the 

 structure of the prothorax as the primary character for classifica- 

 tion, which involved removing certain species from the first 



