271 



antennae. Blancliard says "an tennis obscure rufis, clava 

 picea." "Obscure rufae" is fairly ai^plicable to tlie antennae 

 of the species before me, but I do not find that the fiabellum 

 of any of the specimens is consjoicuously darker than the pre- 

 ceding joints. The agreement, however, with the description 

 is so satisfactory in all other respects that I am disposed to 

 conjecture the antennal llabella of the type to have been dis- 

 coloured by some accidental means and to give this Flatydes- 

 mus the name "1\ ( llaplonijcha) obscuiicornis, Blanch. ( ?)." It 

 is an insect somewhat closely allied to P. sulcijje/mis, Macl., 

 which is the type of the genus, differing from it inte?- alia by 

 the closer and considerably finer puncturation of the dorsal 

 surface. In the present species the dorsal puncturation in all 

 parts is not much different from the corresponding punctura- 

 tion in the common species known as Sertctsthis ( Melolontha) 

 'pruinosa, Dalm. ; in sulcijJfnnls much coarser. In colour this 

 insect is extremely variable, only one of the specimens known 

 to me being coloured (disregarding the antennal fiabellum) as 

 the type, in the rest the head pronotum elytra pygidium legs 

 and undersurface being some or all of them more or less red- 

 dish. One of the specimens before me is evidently a female — 

 the only female Platydesmus that I have seen. It is of evi- 

 dently robuster and more convex form than the male, with the 

 antennal fiabellum much shorter (scarcely longer than joints 

 2-6 together), the tarsi evidently smaller, the pygidium less 

 convex, the abdomen very convex longitudinally (i.e. as viewed 

 from the side), with its apical segment widely rounded behind. 

 In the male the abdomen is much flattened, with its apical 

 segment not conspicuously different from that of the female. 



P. sulcipennis, Macl. My specimen of this insect was 

 given to me by Sir W. Macleay, and I have since compared it 

 with the t3^pical example. 



P. major, sp. nov. Mas. Ovalis ; sat niditus ; supra subglaber, 

 lateribus ciliatis; subtus sat pilosus; totus ferrugineus; 

 antennis 9-articulatis, flabello perlongo (quam prothorax 

 nullo modo breviori) arcuato 3-articulato ; palj^is max- 

 illaribus sat elongatis, quam capitis inter oculos latitudo 

 parum brevioribus ; clypeo oonfertim vix subrugulose, 

 front-e pronotoque crebre nee rugulose, subtilius punctula- 

 tis; prothorace quam longiori duplo latiori, autice hand 

 fortiter angustato, mox ante basin setis elongatis fim- 

 briato, lateribus leviter arcuatis, angulis anticis sat obtu- 

 sis posticis obtusis subrotundatis, basi marginata utrinque 

 sinuata ; scutello fere laevi ; elytris sat fortiter punctu- 

 lato-striatis, striis hand geminatim ordinatis, interstitiis 

 planis sat fortiter vix crebre punctulatis ; pygidio fere ut 

 pronotum, sed in media parte fere lasvi, punctulato ; 



