220 Mr. Arthur M. Lea's Revision of the 



Helcogaster varius, Lea, I. c, 1895, p. 245. 



var. PALLiDiPENNis, Lea, I. c, p. 246. (Figs. 8, 165.) 



The elytra of this species are very variable in colour, 

 ranging from entirely pale to entirely dark. The most 

 common form perhaps and the one described by me as 

 typical is that in which the sides at the base are pale, but 

 the markings vary considerably in extent although the 

 shoulders are always pale. A variety which I propose to 

 name 



var. NIGRIPENNIS, n. var., 



is perhaps almost as common ; in this form the elytra are 

 entirely dark. The variety in which the elytra are entirely 

 pale I have seen only from Tamworth. 



The various forms are all variable in size, are not sexual 

 and freely pair with each other. 



The species is abundantly represented in many parts of 

 New South Wales, and there are many other species 

 closely resembling both the typical form and the varieties, 

 but as the head of the male is very peculiarly sculptured 

 and quite constant in all the varieties (except to a slight 

 extent in the deptli of the excavations), I have considered 

 it advisable to replace the original description of the head 

 by a fuller one as follows : — 



($ . Head transverse, with distinct punctures at base ; largely- 

 excavated between the eyes, the excavation trisinuate posteriorly 

 (the hind margins almost level with an imaginary line connecting 

 the base of the eyes) ; median sinus smaller than the others, in 

 front of it a small conical tubercle which is behind a rather shallow 

 frontal excavation, on each side of this a small excavation connected 

 with the posterior one by a curved line. Eyes large but not especi- 

 ally prominent. Seen from behind the head appears to be supplied 

 with five small tubercles — three of equal size median and conical, 

 and a larger and obtuse one close to each eye. There are really six 

 excavations on the head, three being larger than the others, but they 

 are all more or less connected with each other and are all often 



and for some considerable distance inland as K. G. Sound ; 

 similarly Geraldton (there is also a Geraldton in Queensland) is not 

 necessarily the same as Champion Bay, as Mr. Duboulay gave 

 Champion Bay as the locality lor insects tliat were collected many 

 miles inland "from that port. In the earlier days of Western 

 Australia practically everything from that State was labelled " Swan 

 Kiver." 



