Australian and Tasmanian Malacodermidae. 181 



head is nearly always largely excavated in the male, 

 and gently convex in the female; but I am unable 

 to define any external feature by which the sex of 

 certain species of Carphurus and of Balanophmms can 

 to a certainty be recognized. In Carphurns it is true 

 the head is sometimes excavated, and the elytra armed, 

 these being certain indications that the specimens arc 

 males ; in BalanophoriLs the males always have flabellate 

 antennae. But now comes what must be regarded as 

 an " awkward " feature. The males of all four genera 

 have the first joint of the anterior tarsi large (often of 

 a peculiar shape), and supplied with numerous close- 

 set teeth,* evidently to act as a comb for the antenna3 ; 

 but the females of Balanophorits also have this joint 

 so formed. Another " awkward " feature is that the 

 males of certain species of Carphurus have the antennae 

 strongly serrate or subpectinate, much as they are in 

 the females of Balanophorus ; so that although the sex 

 of a female Carphurus or of a male Balanophorus can 

 always be ascertained, it is often quite impossible to 

 be certain as to whether an unique specimen of a 

 species having the basal joint large and curiously formed, 

 with the antennae strongly serrate, is the female of a 

 Balanophoriis or the male of a Carphurus; and both genera 

 are numerously represented in Australia, although the latter 

 consists of a far greater number of species than the former. 



In the species of all four genera the lower surface of 

 the head is bifoveate, and the mandibles bifid at the 

 apex. They all look very fine when well set out, but 

 there are few beetles which look worse when badly set or 

 pinned; and owing to the irregular contraction which 

 always takes place, once dried they can never afterwards 

 be properly set out. 



I have described the colours as I found them, but it 

 is to be noted that the reddish ones are frequently 

 subject to considerable alteration with age or improper 

 treatment, and I do not think that any shades of the 

 pale colours from pale flavous to deep red are to be 

 depended upon as of specific value ; the dark blues, 

 purples and greens, as in so many similarly coloured insects, 

 are also variable, but appear to be little affected by age. 



* A compound power is necessary to see these teeth clearly ; under 

 an ordinary hand-lens each series appears as a black rim to the inner 

 margin of the joint. 



