460 Mr. F. P. Paseoe on some Atistralian Colydiidae. 



XXXIII. — On some Australian Colydiidae. 

 By Francis P. Pascoe, F.L.S,, &c. 



For a long time all the Australian Colydians have been referable, 

 with any certainty, to three genera only — Deretaphrus, Boihrideres, 

 and Pycnomerus ; more recently Ulonotus, Meryx*, and Bitoma'f 

 have been added in the pages of this Journal. 



Beretaphriis vf^as proposed by Mr. Newman in the ' Entomologist,' 

 p. 403, for four Australian insects : subsequently Mr. Jauson ha\'ing 

 called the author's attention to a note of Erichson's in the ' Natur- 

 geschichte der Insekten Deutschlands,' a second notice was given in 

 the ' Zoologist ' for 1855, App. ceix., preceded, however, by anew and 

 elaborate generic description, and accompanied by certain critical re- 

 marks from the pen of Mr. WoUaston, who, it is perhaps necessary 

 to state, had but a single example oi Deretai^lirus fossus before him J. 

 The result of Mr. Newman's second notice was to eliminate (but 

 apparently with reluctance §) two out of the four original species 

 (illusus and vlttatiis), which he referred, with the Berlin Professor, to 

 Bothrideres. D. puteus, unknown to Erichson, Mr. Newman retained 

 in Deretaplirus ; and in this he was followed by M. Lacordaire, who, 



* Ulonotus had been described as an Asida, and Meryx was always supposed 

 to be Indian. 



t It will be necessary, however, to form a new genus for the reception of the 

 Australian species. 



I In the description, six abdominal segments are mentioned, no doubt a slip 

 of the pen, as no Colydian, I believe, has more than five. As Mr. Wollaston 

 institutes a comparison between Deretaplirus and Thoricfus, I may observe that 

 my friend M. de Baran, of Paris, some time ago suggested to me the affinity of 

 the latter to another genus of the Colydiidre — Aglen us. 



§ Mr. Newman, wliile apparently deprecating the tendency of Mr. Wollaston's 

 "characters" to limit the genus, is inclined "rather" to "the extension than 

 the restriction of generic divisions, on account of the encumbrance to science 

 caused by the multiplicity of names." I may here observe that Beretaphrus 

 was, when it was first proposed, referred to a "natural order — Ptinites," in 

 company with Epitcles contumax, which belongs to the Cleridce and is in fact a 

 Cylidrus, and Synercticus heteromerus, which Mr. Newman thought bore " a con- 

 siderable resemblance to the Clerites, and " that " perhaps a more rigid investi- 

 gation of the mouth " might even " estsibhsh their [viz. the two specimens de- 

 scribed] claim to a station in that order." Except by Erichson, in his ' Bericht ' 

 (1842), I believe tliis genus has remained mmoticed and unknown. A few days 

 ago, however, at the British Museum, I came upon the identical pair whicli served 

 Mr. Newman for his description, and found it to be the same with Aposyla 

 {ante, p. 325), a genus probably alUed to Calcar, among the Tencbrionida. 

 Aposyla must therefore give way to Synercticus. The species, however, are 

 different, the one described by me being narrower, with the prothorax broader 

 bcliind, without any traces of elevated lines on the elytra, the punctures finer, &c. 



