132 REVISION OP THE GENUS LAMPRIMA OP LATREILLE, 



Lamprima Latreillei. Macleay. 



This is the best known and most common species in New South 

 Wales, It was first described by W. S. Macleay in the year 1819 

 in the "Horse Entomologicse." It has been described also by 

 Burmeister and Erichson. In Gemminger and Harrolds Catalogue, 

 L. aenea of Boisduval, Z. amplicollis of Thomson, var. L. coerulea 

 of Donovan, and L. pygmceu, of W. S. Macleay are placed as 

 synonyms of this species, and not having seen the types, I cannot 

 dispute the statement. It is altogether a smoother and more seri- 

 ceous insect than L. aurata, and differs besides in the more densely 

 punctate breast, the highly keeled prosterrum, and the prominent 

 and acutely angled mesosternal point. The females of this and the 

 preceding species are much alike, but they show the same meso- 

 sternal differences as the other sex. The species is found in 

 Victoria and Qusensland as well as New South Wales. I have 

 lately received from the Herbert River District of Queens- 

 land some specimens of a Lamprima, which I felt strongly 

 tempted to look upon as a species, and in fact I had at one time 

 described it under the name of L. sericea. It differs a little from 

 L. Latreillei in the armature of the fore tibia?, the smaller siz", the 

 duller coloration, and the slightly less acute mesosternal point, but 

 I do not think that, for the present at all events, it can be con- 

 sidered as more than a mere vai'iety of L. Latreillei, and as such I 

 have named it in my cabinet. 



These three species were all that were known for many years, 

 and they have been confounded one with another in the most 

 inexplicable way, indeed Reiche asserts, in the " Revue Entomo- 

 logique " so late as the year 1841, his belief that L. aurata and 

 Latreillei are mere varieties of L. aenea. It is of course evident 

 that M. Reiche had never seen true si^ecimens of these insects 

 when he made such an assertion. 



Lamprima Micardi. Reiche. 



This is the next species in seniority. It was described by Reiche 

 in 1841 in the Revue Zoologique of that year, Gemminger and 



