54 H.I. Carter : 



dual " freaks." In specimens examined by the author from the 

 Bates's collection (British Museum), every such colour variation is 

 noted by a label, with n. sp. written thereon — and often with a 

 specific MS. name. The author does not agree with the great 

 majority of these distinctions, and ventures further to suggest that 

 some of Bates's genera are insufficiently differentiated from their 

 kindred. 



It would appear also that the late Canon Blackburn's writings, 

 to whose industry and comprehensive work Australian entomology 

 owes a great debt of gratitude, tend somewhat in the same direction. 

 It is Blackburn who pointed out the necessity for studying the 

 sexual characters of Group I. — in differentiating genera. He also 

 first, so far as I know, pointed out the forciculate anal appendage in 

 the male of the species he (mistakenly) believed to be Metistete 

 plmeloides, Hope (Proc. Linn. Soc, N.S.W., 1888, p. 1436). I find 

 this anal appendage in all cases examined of the larger species of 

 Group II. (e.g., Homotrysis), and in some genera of Group I., and 

 it is only the difficulty of examining small specimens in a dried 

 condition that prevents at present a more complete statement on this 

 point. 



For example, in Ghromomoea (Licymnius) foveicollis, Bates, the 

 anal appendage can be readily extruded — if not already evident — 

 and presents the appearance of a lamina, on which the forceps are 

 seen in relief. It was apparently this appendage that was con- 

 sidered by Bates as the sixth abdominal segment. It is also evident 

 in cT of Ghromomoea pieta, Pasc, though neither Pascoe nor 

 Bates mention the number of abdominal segments in this genus. 

 I have drawn this appendage with the aid of a camera lucida from 

 specimens of eight species, shown in the accompanying plate. 



Aethyssius, Pasc. 

 Atractus, Lac. 



N eo-atractus , Borch. 



1 5 Whole upper surface brilliantly metallic 



2 Surface densely pubescent, closely and strongly punctate 



eros, Pasc 

 A 5 Upper surface slightly, or not, pubescent, pronotmn and elytral 



intervals sparsely punctate 

 ■i Legs and underside (in general) dark, seriate punctures large 



and transverse viridis, Boisd 



var. columbiniiS, Boisd 

 var. rithrircntris, n.var. 



