231 



further notes on australian coleoptera, with 

 Descriptions of New Genera and Species. 



XXXVII. 



By the R-ev. T. Blackburn, B.A. 



[Read October 1, 1907.] 



H YDROPHYLLID^E . 



Cercyon. 



I attribute the following species to Carcyon with no little 

 doubt whether it ought not to be treated as the type of a 

 new allied genus. But as its distinctive structural charac- 

 ters may perhaps be regarded as simply modifications of the 

 Cercyon type, I have ventured to include it provisionally in 

 Cercyon. Its tarsi are shorter and stouter than in any other 

 Cercyon known to me, but notably longer than those of Mega- 

 sternum ; the basal joint of the hind tarsi only very slightly 

 longer than the 2nd joint. The 3rd joint of the maxillary 

 palpi is much shorter than the 4th. The middle part of 

 the metasternum is an abruptly-elevated flat and brilliantly 

 nitid area of obcordate shape, the rest of the segment opaque 

 owing to the presence of very fine confluent sculpture. The 

 mesosternal keel is long and well defined, but very narrow ; 

 linear in fact. The prosternal keel is normal. The elytra are 

 without any trace of striation. I do not find any other dis- 

 tinctive character likely to be generic. 



C. kingense, sp. nov. Ovale ; nitidum ; piceo-nigrum, anten- 

 nis (clava excepta) palpis pedibusque rufis, corpore sub- 

 tus et elytris apicem versus plus minusve rufescenti- 

 bus ; exemplorum nonnullorum prothorace rufescenti ; 

 capite pronotoque crebre (hujus lateribus magis sparsim) 

 subtiliter punctulatis ; elytris haud striatis, subcoriaceis 

 et puncturis subtilissimis sed perspicuis sat crebre impres- 

 sis; prothorace fortiter transverse, antice parum angus- 

 tato, lateribus leviter arcuatis, angulis omnibus obtusis ; 

 carina mesosterni perangusta sat elongata, prosterni sat 

 elevata : tarsis sat brevibus sat robustis, articulo basali 

 quam 2^^^ parum longiori. Long., 1-H 1. ; lat., \ 1. (vix.). 

 Under a microscope the coriaceous appearance of the 



elytra is seen to be caused by a reticulation of sharply-defined 



scratches. 



King Island (Mr. A. M. Lea). 



