98 



Macleay are of such a kind that they can only be disregarded. 

 Read literally, I have certainly seen no species that they could 

 apply to, one (S. politum) being indicated a? devoid of punctura- 

 tion, and the other {S. punctipenne) as having the elytra " rather 

 thickly punctured," the size of the latter being given as i 1., 

 which indicates it as much smaller than any Scaphisoma that I 

 have seen. I must pass them by with the expression of a doubt 

 whether they belong to the genus. The other three species were 

 described by Reitter in brief terms, dealing only with the color- 

 ing, the form of the subsutural stria, and the general character 

 of the puncturation. In respect of one of these (S. hifasciatum) 

 the puncturation is dismissed with the remark " subtilissirae 

 punctatum " (applied to the whole insect) ; another {S. Gestroi) 

 is said to have the elytra (apparently the whole elytra) " dense 

 punctata," while the third {S. Alhertisi) is said to have elytra 

 " dense subtiliter punctata." I have seen no Scaphisoma with 

 puncturation which an}^ of the above designations would even 

 approximately characterise ; and as, moreover, the coloring of all 

 Reitter's species differs considerably from that of all the species 

 before me, I must conclude that they are all unknown to me. 



S. queenslandicum, sp. nov. Late ovale ; nitidum ; glabrum ; 

 nigrum, antennis (his apicem versus infuscatis) palpis 

 pedibus abdomine et pygidii parte postica rufis vel testaceis ; 

 capite pronotoque Ijevibus ; elytris antice sparsissime vix 

 perspicue (juxta suturam et ultra medium gradatim magis 

 crebre magis perspicue, prope apicem fere ut S. agaracini, 

 Leach) punctulatis, stria subsuturali subtili antice extror- 

 sum versa et sat longe continua ; metasterno antice convexo 

 lasvi, postice perspicue punctulato, versus apicem foveis 2 sat 

 approximatis leviter impressis, his sulco subtili conjunctis ; 

 segmento ventrali basali antice sulco transverso profundo 

 impresso. Long., 1 1.; lat., J 1. 



This species is somewhat closely allied to S. novicum, Blackb. 

 It is a little larger, without testaceous coloring in the apical part 

 of the elytra, the subsutural elytral stria much less strong, the 

 front part of the elytra (except close to the suture) not dis- 

 tinctly punctulate, the front part of th-3 metasternum not punc- 

 tulate, the abdomen bright red. The impressions on the meta- 

 sternum and basal ventral segment are perhaps sexual. 



Queensland; Cairns (Mr. Cowley). 



S. perelegans, sp. nov. Late ovale ; nitidum ; glabrum ; nigrum, 

 capite antice prothoracis lateribus (late) margineque antico 

 (anguste) elytris (basi, suturie parte antica dimidia, fascia 

 submediana angulata, et macula subapicali parva, nigris vel 

 piceis exceptis) pygidio palpis coxis pedibus et in corpore 



