NEW PHYTOPHAGOUS COLEOPTERA 35 



and Sumatra about which I cannot come to a satisfactory/ con- 

 clusion on account of the great variability in regard to shape 

 and sculpture and as Erichson's description of his species from 

 the Philippine Islands agrees perfectly with the present insect 

 I prefer to consider the latter as identical, although it is quite 

 possible that it is a closely allied but distinct species. 



21. Nisoti'a, olblitei'ata, n. sp. 



Below piceous; head, thorax, legs and the five basal joints 

 of the antennae fulvous; thorax with the anterior grooves ob- 

 solete ; elytra dark bluish, extremely finely subgeminate punctate. 



9 . Elytra with distinct longitudinal costae. 



Length 1 Vs"^ ^^^®^- 



Head impunctate; frontal tubercles in shape of an oblique 

 ridge, the space between them rather flattened and somewhat 

 rugose; clypeus swollen, transverse; palpi slender, fulvous; an- 

 tennae black, the first 5 joints fulvous; the third joint slightly 

 longer than the proceeding and following one , the rest gradually 

 thickened ; thorax transverse , more than twice as broad as long, 

 the sides moderately rounded, anterior margin straight at the 

 middle , the angles more convex and produced upwards , limited 

 within and close to the head with a very short longitudinal 

 groove, only seen when viewed in certain lights; at the sides 

 and parallel with the lateral margin a very obsolete groove is 

 visible; surface extremely finely punctured only seen under a 

 strong lens ; scutellum piceous or dark fulvous ; elytra distinctly 

 narrowed from the middle to the apex, very finely but more 

 distinctly punctured than the thorax, the punctuation arranged 

 (especially anteriorly), in double rows; near the sides are traces 

 of longitudinal costae. 



New Guinea, Mon, Hatam, Andai (0. Beccar!) ; Katau, Ramoi 

 (L. M. D'Albertis). 



From N. gemella Erichs, the present species differs in the ob- 

 solete anterior thoracic groove, which in the allied species ex- 

 tends much further down and is also much deeper; the punc- 



