4S0 On some Australian Curculionid^e. 



transverse, base gently rounded, -without ocular lobes. 

 Scutellum distinct. Elytra short, briefly oblong-cordate, 

 much wider than prothorax. Metasternum moderately long. 

 Abdomen witli the median segments drawn slightly back- 

 wards at sides. Legs short ; front coxae touching ; femora 

 stout, strongly dentate ; tibiae stout, dilated at apex, with a 

 small terminal mucro; tarsi rather stout, third joint wide 

 and deeply bilobed, claws appendiculate. 



I am unable to assign this genus with confidence to any 

 subfamily. The species in appearance is not unlike a Gery- 

 nassa of the Erirhinides, but the claws are not simple ; 

 when they can be clearly viewed each is seen to have a large 

 basal appendix, that is abruptly truncated at about one- 

 third from the apex, with a distinct notch between it and 

 the apex of the claw proper. This, however, can only be 

 seen when the claws are viewed from below, from any other 

 direction they appear to be simple. The pygidium is not 

 exposed, and although this is regarded as of secondary 

 importance in the Tychiides and Anthonomides, other 

 characters are divergent — for instance, in the Anthonomides 

 the rostrum is described * as " long, slender, and cylindrical " 

 and the eyes as ^' small and distant from the prothorax." 

 In the Tychiides the abdomen is said to have its median 

 sutures strongly angulated at the sides ; in the present 

 genus they are but feebly angulated there and several genera 

 of Erirhinides have these sutures very similar ; this character, 

 however, is certainly variable in the Tychiides. The Priono- 

 merides are stated to have the ventral sutures (other than 

 those of the first segment) strongly angulated at the sides 

 and the pygidium exposed. 



The fact is that the various classifications of the Curculio- 

 nidse have been made without making sufficient allowance 

 for Australian ones, and when our species are better known 

 will need considerable modification. For the present it 

 seems as well to refer this genus, and a few others, to the 

 end to a cluster of genera with the heading " Position 

 Doubtful." 



Mesembrinocis variegatus, sp. n. 



Dark reddish brown, in places almost black ; antennae, 

 tibiae, and tarsi reddish. Densely clothed with fairly stout 

 scales, varying from almost white to sooty. 



Head with dense concealed punctures. Kostrum with 

 narrow carinae separating rows of punctures to antennae, but 



* Leconte and Horn's ' Classification of the Rhynchophora.' 



