177 



specimens and are merely slight increases on a short space — 

 behind the middle — in the width and convexity of the third 

 fifth and seventh interstices. The red colouring of the under- 

 surface and legs together with the dark coloring — except a patch 

 of whitish scales about the top of the hind declivity of the elytra 

 in non abrabed specimens — distinguishes this species readily. 

 Otherwise it differs from its described congeners as follows, inter 

 alia — from nigro-varius, Blackb., by the presence of fascicles on 

 the external half of each elytron, from solidus, Blackb., by the 

 considerably finer and less close puncturation of the sterna, from 

 the species referred to above as Jascicularis^ Macl.?, by its pro- 

 sternum being very much more closely punctulate than its meta- 

 sternum, and from scoparius, Er , by there being no well defined 

 fascicles on its elytra outside the seventh interstice and by the 

 coarse crenulation of its elytral stride. 



S. Australia ; Eyre's Peninsula, in seaweed. 



HETEROCERID^. 



Australian species of two genera appertaining to this Family 

 are known — the old widely distributed genus Heterocerus and 

 Elyihomerus (founded by Mr. C. 0. Waterhouse for a Queens- 

 land species) differing from Heterocerus inter alia by its con- 

 tiguous front coxse. I have not seen an example of the latter. 



HEIEROCERUS. 



Of this genus Australian species have been described under 

 six names, on which notes will be found below together with 

 descriptions of two new species. The Heteroceri are most difficult 

 to deal with on account of their extremely close superficial resem- 

 blance inter se and their liability to variation in colour and 

 markings. The most satisfactory distinctive characters seem to 

 be sexual. Unfortunately the description of the species first 

 recorded as Australian — //. Mastersi, Macl. — does not mention a 

 single really specific character. The description (next published) 

 of H. Australasicd, Waterh., is defective in the omission of any 

 information as to the sex of the specimen described, and its 

 sexual characters if it was a male. I have taken a species on 

 the banks of the Murray which may possibly be a variety of it, 

 and which therefore I forbear to describe as new. I do not find 

 any clearly defined discrepancy between this S. Australian species 

 and Waterhouse's description except that the latter indicates the 

 sutural infuscation as confined to the hii^der half of the elytra 

 while in the former it attains the base and is much dilated in 

 the scutellar region where it is ao its darkest, I take my two 

 specimens to be male and female, the one having the head nar- 

 rower than the other, with the clypeus strongly — in the other 

 less strongly — emarginate in front and furnished with two teeth 



