Australian Coleoptera. 227 



This genus may be readily distinguished from its allies by 

 the unusual proportions of its ventral segments, which in 

 combination with its somewhat elongate rostrum and lateral 

 scrobes made me hesitate as to whether it might not be related 

 to Centyres rather than the Otiorhynchides. I have, however, 

 consulted Mr. A. M. Lea (who has lately been doing much good 

 work on the CurculionidcB) and he has satisfied me that its right 

 place is near Merinmetes. 



N. destructor^ sp. nov. Piceus, antennis pedibusque rufescenti- 

 bus ; corpore supra squamis umbrinis parvis crebre sat aequaliter 

 vestito ; elytris punctulato-striatis, interstitiis planis sat latis. 



Long, (rostr. excepto) li 1. Lat. f 1 (vix). 



The structural characters are detailed in the diagnosis of the 

 genus and need not be repeated here. The species is said to be 

 destructive to strawberry plants. 



S. Australia (near Adelaide). 



LONGICORNES. 

 Thoeis. 

 The following two new species may be referred to this genus 

 which Mr. Pascoe distinguishes from Coptocerats by the shortness 

 of the spines on its antennae, its prothorax nodose on each side 

 and its elytral puncturation not becoming suddenly obsolete 

 beyond the middle. The above three characters are found in the 

 insects before me. Mr. Pascoe however mentions two other 

 characters (viz., the prothorax shorter than in Coptocercus and 

 the apical joints of the antennae unusually short in the female) 

 the former of which is not particularly noticeable in either of 

 these species while the latter is certainly wanting in the one of 

 them of which the female is before me. Certainly, however, 

 these discrepancies would not justify me in creating a new genus, 

 especially in view of my strong opinion that the Phoracanthid 

 genera are greatly in need of revision and that such revision can 

 hardly be effected satisfactorily without a study of Mr. Pascoe's 

 types (now in the British Museum). I should say, e.g.^ that Mr. 

 Pascoe has included in Coptocercus (under Newman's name 

 Callirhoe) such diverse forms (as in the Catalogue in Linn. Soc. 



