BY A. K.VFFKAV. 175 



Lupines aukora, Schaufuss. 



Nunq. Otios. iii. p. 496; affinis, Schfs., loc. cit., p. 501. 



This species is very closely allied to E. picta. The antennae, 

 however, are much more slender, with the 10th joint much smaller, 

 this makes the 11th appear proportionally larger. 



The sexual characters are quite different; the metasternum is 

 longitudinally depressed; the 2nd ventral segment is provided in 

 the middle, on the posterior margin, with a compressed tubercle 

 bending forwards, the last ventral segment shows a lai'ge fovea 

 with two long seta 1 , and at the base a small, more or less elongate 

 tubercle; the anterior tibia? are thickened and toothed in the 

 middle, and the femora much thickened. 



E. affini*, Schfs., is entirely identical. I received it from Mr. 

 Lea under the name of clavatula, King, but I do not think the 

 identification to be correct. According to King's description E. 

 davatula has the 9th joint of the antenna? elongate; in E. aurora 

 this 9th joint is hardly longer than broad. 



Australia; Tasmania. 



Mr. Lea has sent me recently a specimen which he considers, 

 after comparison with the type of King, as the true E. polita, 

 King. This makes the question rather complicated. Mr. Lea's 

 insect is entirely rufous, while, according to King's description, 

 E. polita is piceous. Mr. Lea's supposed co-type of E. polita, King. 

 isal)solutelyidenticalwith«?(ror«, Schfs., and bears the samesexual 

 characters, which is most important for the identification of these 

 minute insects. If the type of King should bear the same sexual 

 characters we should have to admit that the description of King, 

 as far as the colour is concerned, is erroneous. E. aurora, Schfs., 

 = (((finis, Schfs., would be synonymous with polita, King, and the 

 following species, which T consider as being the true E. polita, 

 King, would be a new species. 



I suppose that Mr. Lea has been misled by the anterior legs, 

 which are similar in both species — aurora, Schfs., and polita, 

 King, — the tibia? being slightly toothed in the middle and the 

 femora much thickened. 



