Australian and Tasmanian Malacodermidae. 161 

 Laius alleni, n. sp. {FigA. 60, 115.) 



(J . Dark bluish-green ; under surface blackish ; base of tarsi, base 

 and apex of tibiae obscurely diluted with red ; antennae blackish, 

 two basal joints flavous. Densely clothed with very short pubescence, 

 greyish on prothorax and elytra, silvery on head and legs. 



Head smooth, densely and very minutely punctate. Eyes small 

 and projecting. Antennae moderately long ; 1st and 2nd joints highly 

 polished and almost as long as the rest combined ; 1st almost twice 

 as long as the 2nd, distorted towards, and with a small tuft of 

 hair at, apex ; 2nd with its greatest length transverse to the line of 

 joints, one edge rounded, the other notched, the upper surface on the 

 notched side with two shallow excavations, lower surface gently 

 convex and clothed with very minute whitish pubescence; 4th-9tli 

 joints subglobular. Prothorax strongly transverse, sides and angles 

 rounded, gently convex throughout, densely and finely punctate, 

 without coarse lateral punctures. Elytra smooth, without traces of 

 costae and scarcely visibly punctate. Front femora thick, beneath 

 with a deep oblique groove ; front tibiae still thicker, especially in 

 middle, and also with a deep oblique groove beneath ; tarsi simple. 

 Length, 4 mm. 



9 Differs in having the antennae simple, the 1st joint as long as 

 2nd-4th. combined, the 2nd as long as 3rd-4th combined ; front legs 

 simple. 



Eah. Queensland : Cairns {Edmund Allen). 



The uniformly convex and dark prothorax and elytra, 

 absence of long hairs, dilated and grooved front femora 

 and tibiae, simple tarsi and non-thickened elytral suture 

 are strongly at variance with the other species of the 

 genus. In general appearance it is not unlike Necrobia 

 ruji'pes, except that the legs are dark. 



I have great pleasure in dedicating this species to Mr, 

 Allen, a gentleman from whom I have received many 

 choice tropical insects. 



Laius armicollis, n. sp. {Figs. 4, 50.) 



(J . Flavous ; head between eyes of a vivid metallic green, a subtri- 

 angular basal portion blackish, elsewhere flavous in spots and 

 patches ; antennae blackish, the basal and three apical joints partly 

 red ; prothorax with a fairly large basal patch of vivid green, apical 

 projection inluscate ; elytra of a vivid green but with a fairly wide 

 and somewhat zig-zag median fascia, which is widest at the margins 

 and narrowest at the suture ; scutellura, met^o- and metasternum, apex 



TRANS. ENT. SOC. LOND. 1900. — ^PART I. (MAY) M 



