families of Coleoptera in New Zealand with that of the truly 

 endemic members of the same groups in two equally pre- 

 cinctive and peculiar insular faunae which have been about 

 equally investigated, and with the same groups as found in 

 the British Islands. 



The great majority of the New Zealand beetles are of 

 moderate or quite small dimensions, and are characterised 

 rather by endless diversity of form and sculpture than by 

 bright or conspicuous colouring. The largest beetle of the 

 Islands, Priovoplus reticularis F., slightly exceeds our Prionus 

 coriarius in size, and the single representative of the Brenthidae, 

 Teramocerus {Lasiorrhynchus) barbicornis F., of which the male 

 is often more than three inches in total length, is one of the 

 finest and largest of the family, as well as one of the most 

 remarkable and conspicuous insects in the fauna of the 

 Islands. But there are, after all, a good many exceptions 

 to the general dullness. The large metallic-green and coppery 

 species of Trichosternus and Zaeopoecilus rival many of the 

 European Carabi in size and brilliancy of colour, and another 

 fine and very characteristic genus of the same family is 

 Mecodema, of which nearly sixty species are now known from. 

 New Zealand, only two or three others occurring in Australia 

 and Tasmania. These are black or dark bronzy beetles of 

 varied and often elegant sculpture, the finest, M. costellum 

 Broun, coming from Stephens Island in Cook's Strait, where 

 also the largest species of the endemic Tenebrionid genus 

 Cilibe is found. In the rich green flower-frequenting species 

 of Rygmodus we find a brightness of colouring quite unusual 

 in the Hydrophilidae, and the little " chafers " of the genus 

 Pyronota, some of which are most abundant in summer on 

 Leptospennmn and other blossoms, yield to very few of .their 

 tribe in beauty of metallic colour. Their larger relative, the 

 exceedingly rare Poecilodiscus pulcher Broun of the mountains 

 of the South Island, is even more brilliant, and the largest 

 Buprestid, Nascio enysii Broun, is also a charming little 

 beetle. Among the Elateridae are some quite fine insects, 

 one of the most singular being the large flattened Psorochroa 

 granulata Broun, which is found rarely in crevices of rocks 

 near the sea in some of the small ofE-lying islands ; and the 



