K20.] 29 



species, T. rtijipennis; to this in 1842 Hope added three othei's, 

 viz. assimilis, rubricollis, and violacea. Palaestrida White (1846), 

 allied to the above, included one species, P. hicolor. Subsequently, four 

 others, eitcera, platycera, quadrifoveata, and rufocincta, were added by 

 Fairmaire to Palaestra, and three, concolor, JlabelUcorms, and nigri- 

 pennis, hj Macleay to Palaestrida. 



Fortunately, the description o£ Palaestra inibripennis Cast, is such 

 that the species can be recognized with tolerable certainty. 



By the kindness of Professor Poulton I have been able to examine 

 the tA'pes of Westwood's and Hope's species of Tmesidera with some 

 very interesting results. In his description of T. rufipennis Westwood 

 refers to two specimens, one in his own collection, the other in that of 

 Hope. Both these specimens are now in the Hope Department at 

 Oxford, and prove to belong to different though allied species. The 

 individual from Westwood's own collection is that from which the 

 description and figure are taken, and must be regarded as the type ; 

 that from Hope's collection is Palaestra ruhripennis Cast. ; the latter 

 bears the locality label " Tasm''." The two species are certainly con- 

 generic, so that, as suggested by Blackburn (Proc. Roy. Soc. S. Austr. 

 xxiii, 1899, p. 60), the name Tmesidera Westw. becomes a synonym of 

 Palaestra Cast. 



The three species added by Hope do not belong to T?iiesidera. 

 T. assimilis is identical with Palaestrida hicolor White, the type of 

 Avhich, from the N. or N.W. coast of Australia, is in the British 

 Museum. The species therefoi-e becomes Palaestrida assimilis Hope. 



T. violacea Hope belongs to Zoiiitis and is identical with Z. rugosi- 

 pennis Fairm. It is rather a dark form with the pro thorax completely 

 black above, though obscurely red on the sides. The colour of the thorax 

 in this species varies from being entireh' red to entirely black ; the type 

 of rugosipennis is described as having a red thorax with a median black 

 stripe. Z. aspericeps Blackb. (t^^pe in the British Musevmi) is probably 

 only a variety of the same in which the legs and underside are also black. 

 Of T. rubricollis Hope no specimen beai'ing this name in Hoi^e's 

 handwriting is to be found at Oxford, though an old example of 

 Zonitis rugata Fairm., in the Hope Collection without a label, is 

 probably the missing type. In the British Museum T. rubricollis 

 Hope is also identified with this species. 



Of the species added by Fairmaire to Palaestra, P. platycera 

 (specimen from Champion Bay, W. Australia, identified \>\ Fairmaire) 



