ASTRAEUS. 175 



NOTE XXV. 



DESCRIPTION OF THREE NEW SPECIES 



AND A SYNOPSIS 



OF THE BUPRESTID GENUS ASTRAEUS, C. & G. 



BY 



J. R. H. NEERVOORT van de POLL. 



Messrs. Castelnau and Gory established the genns Astraeus 

 for the reception of a beautiful Australian Buprestid, A. 

 Jlavopictiis of those authors. — Mr. Edw. Saunders in his 

 » Revision of the Australian Buprestidae described by the 

 Rev. F. H. Hope" placed Stigmodera Samöuelli Hope in 

 the genus Astraeus. — In the Munich Catalogue mention is 

 made of these two species only, but in the » Catalogus Bu- 

 prestidarum" of Mr. Saunders still a third species is enu- 

 merated , viz. : A. navarchis Thoms. This species , which 

 was described as a Conognathus , is unknown to me , but 

 judging from description and figure it is undoubtedly an 

 Astraeus. — More recently MacLeay described A. Mastersi , 

 but this is merely a variety of A. Samouelli Hope, which 

 differs from the typical form in having the second sutural 

 spot confluent with the spot below the shoulder. 



A peculiarity , not mentioned by any of the authors , 

 is the enlargement of the elytra below the shoulders which 

 covers the sides of the breast. — In ^. flavopictus the elytra 

 are only slightly enlarged in a curved line, but in A. Sa- 

 mouelli this appendix is broader and cut off in a straight 

 line posteriorly, just along the metasternum. A peculiar facies 

 goes side by side with these elytral-types , and I found it 

 the best characteristic for the divisions of my tabulation. 



Notes from the Leyden ]Museum, A'"©!. VIII. 



