1920.] 5 



be broadh' separate by intervening membrane, having in the middle a 

 small i^rocess for the attachment o£ muscles. 



Eitstatius fergusoiii, sp. n. 



J. Latus, prinnn C(»n'e.nis, ni(/er ; thorace fransvcrso, (huise arr/nte (/ranu- 

 lato ; elytrls suhcodatis intersfitiis foveatis. Long. 16, lat. 7 nun. 



Hah. Australia (Coomoo in 1886). 



I have seen but one specimen of this species, and it does not resemble 

 any other known to me. The sculpture of the thorax consists of flattened 

 granules or small tubercles very evenh^ distributed ; its length scarcely 

 5 mm., its breadth 5| ; it is broader than the base of the elytra, but 

 narrower than their broadest part. The elytra are much rounded at the 

 sides, with blunt shoulders not at all accommodated to the thorax ; they 

 have each seven serial elevations of which the 2nd, 4th, and 6th are less 

 than the others and consist of granulations, connected Qn the 2nd but 

 separated on the 4th and 6th ; between these ribs there are large depres- 

 sions, separated each from tlie following only by a fine transverse 

 elevation which is more or less indistinctly granulate ; there are no 

 projections at the apex. The legs are rather stout for this family. 

 The metastei-num is extremely short, not impressed, in front slightly 

 margined, and in the middle sending off in front of the margin a minute 

 process that meets the mesosternum between the legs. 



The last ventral plate (the true Sth) is divided, the two pieces very 

 thick, obtuse, very like a pair of widely separated mandibles. There is 

 only membrane between them at the base, but from the inner face of 

 this membrane there projects a small but rather stout, conical, black 

 process, only the end of which is laminar in form ; 5th (really 7th) 

 ventral plate also highly modified, its land margin folded forwards so as 

 to make a highly-polished area on the inside of the body wliich is the 

 support of the preanal fossa visible on the outside ; in front of the 

 preanal fossa the surface is impressed, and has some hair which is con- 

 densed on each side to form a fascicle after the manner of Phaliclura. 



The last dorsal is highh' modified ; its infiexed portion has three 

 faces and is very irregular in form, the outer part (the really anterior) 

 is curved, 2 mm. long, with much short hair, and above that impressed 

 for the accommodation of the ventral processes ; after the hair it is 

 abruptly doubled in, the first part of the inflexion (which is invisible 

 without dissection) being dull, and be^^ond that highly jwlished. The 

 penultimate is simple, transverse, 2^ mm. long, 4:^ broad. The spiculum 

 is rather stout, with a roughly rounded dilatation at the free extremity; 



