Australian and Tasmanian Malacoderriiicla£. I7l 



Hypattalus abdominalis, Er. {Attains, Er.), Wiegm., 

 Arch., 1842, I, p. 147 ; Blackb., T. R. S., S.A., 1894, 

 p. 208. 



brevicornis, Lea, P. L. S., N.S.W., 1898, p. 573. 

 var. occidentalis, Lea, /. c, p 573. 



I have numerous specimens from various parts of Tas- 

 mania which agree with the description of this species, the 

 type specimen of which had but one joint of its antennae 

 left. 



The antennae have the 4th-10th joints serrate ; in the 

 female they are about as long as the head and prothorax 

 combined, in the male they are distinctly longer, and the 

 serrations are more pronounced. 



Dr. Erichson describes the abdomen as red, with the 

 apex black ; in the specimens I have examined the two 

 basal segments are also black, or at least infuscate ; whilst 

 in some of the females all the segments are black. 



The elytra are usually deep blue but are occasionally 

 purplish or greenish. In four specimens before me there 

 is a blotch on the prothorax varying from infuscate to 

 deep black. 



The small size and almost impunctate elytra will at 

 once distinguish this species from the close allies of aiis- 

 tralis. Its front femora and hind tibiae are simple in 

 both sexes. 



On again examining the types of brevicornis I find they 

 represent but the variety of abdominalis having the abdo- 

 men entirely black ; of the seven specimens originally 

 before me, I now have five, of these three have the abdo- 

 men black, whilst two have the median segments reddish ; 

 brevicornis therefore must be regarded as a synonym of 

 abdominalis, or the ones with the abdomen black as a 

 common variety of the female. 



Occidentalis, described as a possible variety of brevicornis, 

 is, I am now convinced, a variety only, and must therefore 

 be referred to abdominalis. 



Hab. Australia and Tasmania. 



Hypattalus australis, Fairm. {Attcdus), Pet. Nouv. Ent., 

 1877, II, p. 174; Journ. Mus. Godeffr., 1879, XIV, p. 

 104; Blackb., T. R. S., S.A., 1894, p. 208. {Fig. 117.) 



The sex of his specimen was not mentioned by Fair- 

 maire, but it was evidently female. His description would 



