208 AUSTRALIAN PSELAPHID^E, 



rounded oa the sides, with the dorsal stria bearing outside a 

 second stria exceedingly fine, but distinct. 



Tamworth and Windsor, N.S.W. (Mr. A. M. Lea). 



Tribe CTENISTINI. 

 Genus Ctekisophus, n.g. 



This new genus is closely allied to Ctenistes, but differs in the 

 following points — body more robust, broader and shorter; the 

 last joint of the maxillary palpi is transverse or transversely 

 globose and provided externally with a long appendage, its 

 internal apical angle is more or less sharp and provided with a 

 very small appendage; in the under face of the head, close to the 

 neck, is a strong transverse carina ended on each side by a long, 

 sharp, more or less curved spine, distant from the eyes and quite 

 independent of them; the antennae of the g have a long club of 

 four joints, but this club is always much shorter than in Ctenistes, 

 and is hardly as long as the half of the antenna. 



Ctenisophus resembles much more Desimia (from Europe and 

 Asia) and Ctenisis (from America), but in those two genera the 

 last joint of the maxillary palpi is not transverse, but oblong- 

 ovate and strongly acuminate, and the infracephalic spines are 

 not distant from the eyes but inserted on the inferior margin of 

 the eyes. 



This new genus includes all the Australian insects hitherto 

 described as Ctenistes, a genus which, as far as I know, has no 

 representatives in Australia. 



The species seem to be rather numerous, and being very similar 

 to each other, their identification is difficult. 



This difficulty is enhanced by the impossibility of ascertaining 

 the identity of Ctenistes vernalis, King, and C. kreusleri, King. 

 I have from the collections of Schaufuss and Reitter, and from 

 Mr. Lea, under the name of Kreusleri, insects which are very 

 different from each other. 



The shape and relative proportions of the joints of the maxillary 

 palpi afford important characters which have generally been over- 

 looked. 



