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NOTES ON THE GKNUS LEPTOPS 

 WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW SPECIES. 



By Arthur-ll. I^ea. 



The genus Leptops is one of the niost characteristic of Australian 

 weevils, and contains probably a greater number of species than 

 any other. Some of the species are extremely common, and a few 

 are destructive to cultivated plants, but the majority are to be 

 obtained upon various species of Acacia. Ali are variable sexually, 

 and many are variable individually. 



The scrobe is very variable, being sometimes narrow and sharply 

 defined, and at other times wide and obtuse; it may be straight, 

 arcuate, or twice curved, and directed towards, above, or below the 

 eyes. In fact Leptops is a group of species in which the ordinary 

 features relied on as generic (and even sometimes regarded as of 

 subfamily importance) vary to an astonishing extent. 



AU the species hâve a small tubercle (usually cleft at its apex) 

 behind the front coxae, evidently to act as a kind of pivot; and ail 

 the members of the tribulus-group hâve two more or less conical 

 tubercles on the front part of the prosternum. 



The second joint of the antennse is nearly always longer than the 

 first, so I hâve not always considered it necessary to compare 

 them. The scutellum is nearly always small and of small value for 

 purposes of identification; and I hâve seldom described the sculp- 

 ture of the abdomen, as it is nearly always concealed by the 

 clothing. 



In ail cases I hâve described the clothing as I found it, but in 

 this genus (and in fact in the whole subfamily) the scales are parti- 

 cularly liable to become abraded, and with âge and immersion in 

 liquids they become discoloured. When greasy the scales frequently 

 look almost black and are always very indistinct. 



The localities given are ail of spécimens actually examined by 

 me; for the new species I hâve given the name of the collector or 

 muséum from whom I obtained spécimens, or in whose possession 

 they now are. 



There are two species of Leptops in the Australian muséum from 

 Lord Howe Island; one is described (Etheridgei) and the other is 

 represented by a single spécimen of very peculiar form, and cer- 

 tainly undescribed. I hâve seen a number of other species from 

 various parts of Australia, but hâve not described them, as they 

 were usually represented by damaged or single spécimens. 



Of the allied gênera, Catastygnus in distinguished by its much 



