224 



of specimens of Berosus taken in company and evidently con- 

 specific. In all other respects the description of Ausiralice fits- 

 M. Fairmaire's insect very well unless it be with regard to the- 

 strige 4-6 of the elytra which Mulsant says are " postice laeviores." 

 I take this to mean that the punctures of those striae are less 

 conspicuous than of the others in the hinder part, and certainly 

 this seems to be the case (at any rate from points of view) in 

 several species (including exteniespinosus) although it is not so 

 strono-ly marked in any species known to me that I should be 

 inclined to attach much importance to it. 



B. sticticus, Fairm. I have examples ^^from Queensland) of a 

 Berosus which I refer doubtfully to this species. Their discrepancy 

 with the description consists in the markings of the elytra (which 

 are not constant), since I cannot find that in any of my speci- 

 mens those markings fall in any distinct manner into the form of 

 a semicircle. Whether or not, however, I am right in my 

 identification B. sticticus is rightly placed in the tabulation as all 

 the characters I have reUed upon in placing it are characters 

 mentioned in M. Fairmaire's description. 



B debilipennis, sp. nov. Elongato-ovalis ; testaceus, capite 

 prothoraceque fusco-adumbratis, elytrorum striis puucturis 

 maculisque nonnuUis obsoletis et corpore subtus 

 fuscescentibus ; clypeo subtiliter sparsissime capite postice 

 crebrius subforbiter, prothora- e sat fortifcer nee crebre (hoc 

 antice sat angustato), punctulatis ; elytris subtiliter 

 striatis stria 2'' longe ante medium desinenti, striis 

 subtiliter punctulatis, interstitiis subseriatim (antice quam 

 strife baud magis subtiliter) punctulatis, elytris postice 

 iuermibus ; mesosterni carina ante coxas internaedias baud 

 prominenti. Long., 2J 1. ; lat., li 1. 

 My unique example of this insect has unfortunately lost its 

 front tarsi and therefore its sex cannot be determined. Its elytra 

 simple at the apex and its testaceous head, in combination, dis- 

 tint'uish it from all the other described Australian Berosi except 

 B sticticus, from which it may be at once separated by its larger 

 size, and by the much finer punctulate striaj of its elytra (which 

 resemble those of B. decipiens, Blackb.). If my identification of 

 B. sticticus be right it also differs from that species by its 

 prothorax more narrowed in front. 



Tropical Queensland (sent by Mr. Cowley). 

 B auriceps, Blackb. In a "N.B." under this heading in 

 Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 1889, p. 449, I drew attention to a 

 specimen which I considered a possible var. of auriceps. The 

 study of some Berosi recently received from Queensland has 

 satisfied me that the specimen in question appertains to a species 

 quite distinct from auriceps and which is B. oviiiennis, Fairm. 



