180 Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria. 



Hybosorides. 



This group (Lacordaire's 4th tribe) of the sub-family Coprides 

 agrees with the Aphodiides in having two spines at the apex of 

 the hind tibiae, but differs from the Aphodiides, inter alia, in 

 having 10-jointed antennae, with the basal joint of the club 

 cupuliform (the Aphodiides having 9-jointed antennae with the 

 basal joint non-cupuliform). So far as I know it is represented 

 in Australia by a single genus only. 



Phoeochrous. 



Of this genus a single species P. (Silphodes) emarginatus. Cast., 

 has been reported by Harold to have been found in North 

 Queensland, and Macleay described, under the name Silphodes 

 hirtipes, an insect (also from Queensland) which appears to be a 

 Phoeochrous. I have before me a considerable number of 

 specimens from various localities in Queensland which seem to be 

 certainly the insect described by Macleay, and the question 

 suggests itself whether they are distinct from P. emarginatus. I 

 am inclined to regard them as distinct, although I have not 

 access to Castelnan's description. Jiarold, however, states that 

 P. (Silphodes) indicus, Westw., and sumatrensis, Westw., are both 

 identical with emarginatus, and Westwood's descriptions under 

 those names do not appear to fit satisfactorily the Queensland 

 specimens that I have mentioned. Nevertheless, the descriptions 

 are very brief, and I cannot say that they specify any one 

 character (appearing in both descriptions) that is absolutely 

 irreconcilable with the identity of P. hirtipes. The most 

 obvious inconsistency between it and Westwood's descriptions is 

 that the latter call the head in sumatrensis, and the pronotum in 

 indicus, " tenuissime punctato," which is not the case with either 

 of those segments in hirtipes (its head, especially, being in both 

 sexes quite strongly punctulate). Westwood's phrase, however, 

 may have been a little exaggerated in respect of the insects 

 before him ; and so also, perhaps, with regard to the other small 

 discrepancies that I notice. In P. hirtipes all the claws of the 

 male are much more robust than those of the female, and are 

 appendiculate. 



