32 



horuni basi sunima sutura (late) fascia lata mox pone medium 

 posita et parte apicali (late) nigro-viridibus vel subcyaneis, 

 corpore subtus antennisque nigro-viridibus parce breviter 

 argenteo-pubescentibus, pedibus lfete violaceis ; capite longi- 

 tudinaliter profunde excavato, vix crebre minus fortiter 

 punctulato: prothorace quam longiori ut 1| ad 1 latiori, 

 sparsim (ad basin lateraque sat fortiter, in aliis partibus 

 subtiliter) punctulato, ad latera in parte postica depresso, 

 lateribus minus arcuatis, latitudine majori fere ad basin 

 posita, basi minus fortiter sinuata ; scutello lsevi ; elytris ad 

 apicem tri-spinosis, punctulato-striatis, interstitiis (prsesertiin 

 postice) sat fortiter carinatis fere Itevibus ; corpore subtus 

 minus fortiter vix crebre punctulato. Long., 5-6 1. ; lat., 



Not unlike S. campestris in colors and markings, but with the 

 post-median fascia of the elytra considerably wider ; very 

 different from it however in other respects. Its nearest ally is I 

 think S. bicincta, Boisd., from which it differs inter alia (a) in 

 markings, the suture being widely of dark color along its whole 

 length and the basal dark coloring on the elytra consisting of a 

 mere narrow edging ; (b) in the prothorax (which is otherwise 

 very like that of S. bicincta) being only very sparsely punctulate; 

 (c) in the front of the elytra being very much less strongly 

 arched forward. The structure of the apex of the elytra is as in 

 S. bicincta — each apex trispinose, the two spines near the suture 

 placed close together, the sutural spine the shortest of the three. 



Victoria ; sent by Mr. French. 



S. undulata, Don. Mr. French's collection contains a remark- 

 able variety of this insect in which the dark markings of the 

 elytra are extended to cover the whole surface, — so that the 

 elytra are of a uniform greenish-black color. 



ELATERID^E. 



MEGAPENTHES. 



M. futilis, Cand. I have received under this name from Mr. 

 Lea (who tells me that he obtained the name from Dr. Candeze) 

 examples of the insect that I named EJater wentworthensis. It 

 was to similar specimens, no doubt, that Dr. Candeze referred 

 in the note appended to his original description of M. futilis 

 (from N. Australia) when he said " I have had for some time 

 several individuals from N.S. Wales lying unpublished (restes 

 inedits) under the name of futilis and closely allied to it (ayant 

 de grands rapports avec celui-ci)" and then mentioned its color- 

 ing, and said that it was also closely allied to M. lituratus. I 

 am still of opinion that it is a good species. There are several 

 specimens from tropical Australia in my collection which I regard 



