320 Mr. G. J. Arrow on Beetles of the Melolonthid 



The three species are very closely related, and all have 

 been found in the same island, Viti Levu. Although 

 forming a separate group, the features which divide them 

 from the Australian forms of Rhopaa are so slight that 

 there appears to me no sufficient reason for excluding them 

 from the genus. They differ from the more typical species 

 in having a narrower pronotum, angulated at the sides and 

 not dilated, with a slight pit near the middle, in which is 

 aggregated a cluster of the fine setae with which the body 

 is clothed. The basal joint of the hind tarsus is distinctly 

 longer than the succeeding one, the tooth beneath the claws 

 is very minute, placed near the base and united with the 

 basal dilatation, and the antennal club consists of six lamellae 

 in the male and three in the female. The spurs of the hind 

 tibiae are slender in the male, broad and blunt in the female, 

 with the terminal part thin and translucent. In the 

 Australian species of Rhopaa, as Blackburn has pointed out, 

 these spines are slender in both sexes. 



The three Fijian species may be distinguished by the 

 following differential characters : — 



Sculpture of the upper surface very fine and dense . . vestita, sp. n. 

 Sculpture of the upper surface not very fine and dense. 



Rather shining ; elytra distinctly punctured .... subnitida, sp. n. 



Not shining ; elytra rugose vitiensis, Fairm. 



Rhopcea vestita, sp. n. 



Fusco-rufa, abdomine nigro, setis minutis decumbentibus griseis 

 omnino vestita, pectore dense sat longe fulvo-hirto ; corpore baud 

 longe ovali, convexo, capite crebre punctato, fronte magis grosse 

 et rugose ; clypeo lato, margine antico reflexo, medio leviter 

 siuuato ; pronoto baud lato, dense ruguloso-punctato, lineola 

 minuta mediana lsevi fossulaque anteriori dense setosa, lateribus 

 medio fortiter angulatis, angulis posticis quam anticos fere acuti- 

 oribus ; elytris subtiliter et dense rugulosis, vix costatis ; pygidii 

 medio loevi, lateribus rugulosis et setosis : 

 J , antennarum articulo 4° spiuoso, 5° modice producto, 6°-10° 

 subrequaliter lamellatis. 



Long. 15-18-5 mm., lat. max. 8-9*5 mm. 



Hab. Viti Levu, Sigatoka Dist. (May to August, 

 R. Veitch <y D. S. North) ; Nadi Dist. {J. F. Illingworth). 



Large numbers of this insect have been found in all stages 

 in the sugar- plantations by Mr. R. Veitch, who intends shortly 

 to publish an account of it from the economic standpoint. 



It is smaller than the hitherto-known species of Rhopcea, 

 reddish brown in colour, with a black abdomen, very finely 

 and densely sculptured upon the pronotum, scutellum, 



