and species of PselaphidcB and Scj/dmcemdce. 517 



cence, and of which the outer one is small. The elytra are 

 a good deal rounded at the sides, the suture a little de- 

 pressed at the base, and on each side, inside the humeral 

 angle, is a distinct depression ; they are clothed with elon- 

 gate, upright pubescence. The mesosternum has a strono-W 

 elevated carina, which projects backwards a little between 

 the middle coxa? ; the metasternum is rather long, quite un- 

 impressed, clothed like the abdomen with short distinct 

 pubescence. The front tibiae are a little sinuate, their 

 inner margin, in its lower half, rather densely pubescent. 



Five specimens of this interesting insect have been sent 

 from Auckland by iNIr. T. Lawson ; they do not show any 

 indications of sexual distinctions. 



Obs. — It is just possible that this insect may ultimately 

 prove not to be absolutely congeneric with the Australian 

 Phagonophana Kingi, the only species of the genus 

 hitherto described. King in his description of the genus 

 does not tell us whether the intermediate coxre of P. Kingi 

 are contiguous or not. Now in the New Zealand P. setosa 

 the intermediate coxas are contiguous, or rather separated 

 only by a very thin lamina, whereas in an Austrahan 

 species I possess from Victoria these parts are separated 

 by a plate so much broader that they would be more 

 correctly described as subcontiguous ; I do not know 

 whether this Victorian insect be conspecific or not with 

 the P. Kingi, but it is at any rate highly probable that it 

 is a member of the same genus. From King's descri))tion 

 we learn also that the hind coxre are contiguous in P. Kingi, 

 and this is also the case with the individual from Victoria, 

 whereas in the New Zealand P. setosa, the hind coxfe are 

 not c^uite contiguous, though the space separating them is 

 very small. The resemblance between the Australian 

 species and the New Zealand one is however in all other 

 respects so great, that I do not think it would be correct 

 to place them in diiferent genera. 



