759 



REVISION OF THE AMYCTERIDES. 



Part iv. Scleroi^inus [Section ii.]. [Coleoptera]. 



By Eustace W. FerCxUSON, M.B., Ch.M. 



(Continued Jrom p. 7 18.) 



Section ii. 



Ventral segments with a strong, hirsute, median vitta in the 

 male; less marked in the female. 



Group ii. — Fifth interstice strongly, generally closely, tuber- 

 culate; third interstices approximated on the declivity; inter- 

 mediate tibiye simple. Type of group, S. sabulosus Macl. 



This group includes a number of the finest species in the genus. 

 The headquarters of the group are in South Australia, whence it 

 spreads into the Mallee-districts in the north-west of Victoria, 

 and to the Murchison District, in West Australia. The group 

 is represented in Central Australia by a number of species closely 

 related, inter se, and constituting a distinct Subgroup, of which 

 S. co7ivexus Sloane, is the type. 



The s^DCcies are large, and of an elongate, subparallel form, the 

 prothorax being strongly ampliate. The elytra are tuberculate, 

 but the tubercles vary in size and form, from mere subobsolete 

 elevations along the interstices, to small but definite, or large 

 and conical, tubercles. As a rule, the ai'rangement is regular, 

 the third, fifth, and sixth interstices being generally more or less 

 closely tuberculate; in S. Elderi and one or two others, however, 

 the tubercles are large and separate, even on the fifth interstice. 

 The approximation of the third elytral interstices on the declivity 

 is characteristic, though not confined to the group; it is more 

 pronounced in the female. The structure of the ventral surface 

 is also characteristic of the group. The median vitta projects 

 strongly beyond the plane of the segments, which are concave or 

 subconcave on either side of the vitta, and marked by more or 

 less constant depressions, more particularly on the apical segments. 



