DASCTf.LTDAB. 38 



bottles. Recent investigations when at Waimarino proved that I had 

 previously mistaken the cause. Early during a rainy morning I fovmd 

 about a dozen specimens under a plank lying on the ground, and thought 

 I had secured a prize. No other insects accompanied them, and there were 

 no others 'in the collecting-bottle. On examining them within an hoiir 

 afterwards, I, to my intense disappointmeiit. found every one mutilated. 

 Finding a few more just at dusk, I placed two together in small tubes : the 

 result was the same. After that experiment I placed one only in each 

 laurel tube, and in that way managed to secure perfect specimens. I would: 

 therefore, advise entomologists to carry separate tubes for the reception. of 

 these belligerent species. Veronatus longipalpis is the worst, as far as my 

 tests are concerned. 



3073. Mesocyphon tristis sp. nov. Gen., Man. N.Z. Coleopt., p. 316. 



Elongate, subdepressed. opaque, fuscous, the sides and base of thorax 

 a little rufescent ; the labram. legs, and basal 5 joints of the antennae 

 obscure rufo-testaceous ; rather thickly clothed with fine yellowish-grey 

 setae,' which, on the elytra, are more or less concentrated in irregular 

 patches ; between these the hairs are finer and ash-coloured, and therefore 

 apt to escape notice. 



Head moderately large, much and rather abruptly narrowed and pro- 

 longed in front ; it is rather finely and closely granulate. Thorax trans- 

 verse, subtruncate in front, anterior angles deflexed and obtuse, the sides 

 slightly rounded, base oblicjue towards the sides with subrectangular angles ; 

 its surface closely and finely yet quite definitely granulate. Scutellum 

 granulate. Ehjira oblong, l)roader behind than at the base ; there is a 

 basal sutural depression which is curv^ed outwardly before the middle of 

 each elytron ; they are finely and closely granulate in front, the granulation 

 becomes indistinct Vjehind. The 2nd joint of the antennae is nearly as long 

 as the more slender 3rd. 



Underside fuscous, densely and finely sculptured. 



Darker and altogether more opaque than M. monticola, near whicli it 

 should be located. M. setiger and M. inarworatus are described as being 

 finely punctured, but Dr. Sharp is mistaken on that point, as in my remain- 

 ing specimens the sculpture is granular. 



Length, 2^ lines ; breadth, | line. 



Waimarino. January. 1909. Rather rare, but it may be otherwise 

 during ordinary seasons. During my visit only three or four of the shrubs 

 were in blossom. 



Group Telephoridae. 

 3074. Asilis coUaris sp. nov. Gen., Man. N.Z. Coleopt., pp. 326, 1147. 



Elongate, narrow, shining, pubescence slender and suberect ; head and 

 thorax nigro-fuscous, elytra black, with indistinct fuscous spots behind the 

 middle and at the apices, the legs and basal joints of the antennae fuscous. 



Head narrower than thorax, almost quite smooth. TJiorax transverse, 

 rounded in front and along the sides, so as to form an almost uninterrupted 

 curve from one posterior angle to the other ; these angles are merely slight 

 projections of the basal margin ; the lateral margins are thickened and 

 reflexed behind, and rather more strongly rounded there than in front ; disc 

 slightly uneven, with an ill-defined median impression and a large basal 

 fovea near each side, it is apparently impunctate, but has the usual series of 

 fine punctures close to the apical and basal margins. Hentelhnn smooth. 



2— No. 1. 



