174 Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria. 



vexis vix perspicue punctulatis, spina humerali modica ; meta- 

 sterni disco laevi ; tarsorum posticorum articulo basali quam 

 tibiae latitude breviori. 



Long. 1|-1| 1. Lat. I 1. 



Decidedly narrow and elongate for a Psammodius. The sulca- 

 tion of the pronotura is not so obsolete as in the other two Aus- 

 tralian species that I attribute to the genus. The punctu ration 

 of the pronotura is extremely coarse. Tn some examples the 

 elytra are more or less decidedly brown. 



S. Australia ; also W. Australia (from Mi-. Lea). 



Tablilatiox of Australian Psammodii. 



A. — Pronotum fringed with setae - - australicus, Blackb. 



AA. — Pronotum not setulose. 



B. — Length of basal joint of hind tarsi con- 

 siderably less than width of apex of 

 tibia ------ obscurior, Blackb. 



BB. — Length of basal joint of hind tarsi 

 scarcely less than width of apex of 

 tibia ------- zietzi, Blackb. 



Saprosites. 



This genus has not been previously recorded as Australian, 

 although at least one Australian species belonging to it has been 

 described as a member of a closely allied genus. I have in my 

 extra-Australian collection a specimen of S. pygmaeus, Har., 

 named by Dr. Sharp, and therefore can be quite confident in 

 referring the following four species to Saprosites, as they are 

 all undoubtedly congeneric with S. pygmaeus. They differ 

 essentially from all the other Aphodiides known to me by the 

 structure of the inesosternum, which is not declivous between the 

 intermediate coxae but continues the plane of the metasternum. 

 This segment, liowever, varies remarkably in its structure, 

 according to the species, in other respects; the median line in 

 some species being a narrow longitudinal carina (as in S. 

 pygmaeus); in other species the mesosternum being, l)etween the 

 intermediate coxae, a much wider and non-cariniform process 

 which is either nearly flat or obtusely convex. The hind tibiae 



