94 Mr. F. P. Pascoe on Additions to 



XII. — Additions to the Tenebrionidte of Australia t&c. 

 By Feancis P. Pascoe, F.L.S., F.Z.S., &c. 



The following additions to the list of Australian Tenebrionidfe 

 are mostly derived from a select collection sent me by Mr. 

 George Masters, who has lately been collecting in Queensland 

 and in Western Australia. The value of the collection was 

 greatly increased by notes of the habits or other particulars 

 of the species composing it. Among the three or four new 

 genera here described, the most interesting perhaps is one be- 

 longing to Bolitophagina^ [Mychestes], which frequents rotten 

 wood in which probably some minute fungus has made its 

 appearance. A fcAv species remain for further investigation, 

 some not being in sufficiently good condition for description. 

 In the collection, but not belonging to the Tenebrionidas or 

 even to the Heteromera, was a remarkable new form*, appa- 

 rently of MonotomidfB, found in ants' nests, — also examples of 

 Erichson's curious gexiixs, Ancistria, hitherto known only fi'om 

 India, and of which no species occurred in the wonderfully 

 rich collections made by Mr. Wallace in the intervening Ma- 

 layan islands. 



Scymena'\ ampliihia. 



S. ovalis, pallida testacea, subuitida ; scutello valde transverse ; 

 eljtris sulcato-punctatis, puuctis minutis. 



Hab. King George's Sound (sea-shore, buiTowing in the 

 sand). 



Oval, moderately convex, pale testaceous, slightly nitid ; 

 head finely punctured, line of separation between the clypeus 

 and front not sharply defined, but of a darker colour ; antennae 

 nearly as long as the breadth of the head, the outer joints 

 slightly moniliform ; prothorax rather finely punctured, the 

 apex very slightly emarginate ; scutellum very transverse ; 

 elytra sulcate-punctate, the punctures small, placed in shallow 

 grooves, the intervals very minutely, almost obsoletely punc- 

 tured ; tibite and tarsi roughly ciliated, the latter somewhat 

 slender. Length 3 lines. 



In general appearance this species closely resembles the 

 common Phahria cadaverina of our southern coasts, and pro- 

 bably, like it, preys on dead animal substances when it has 

 the opportunity. Mr. Masters says that it is found " burrow- 



* Since this was written, I liave seen reason to belieA'e that this is the in- 

 sect described by the Count of Casteluau, in the Rev. et Mag. de Zoologie 

 for Septembei', p. 3oG, under the name of Nepharis ulata. It is referred 

 to the Colydiidae, and " perhaps near Cossyphodes,^^ and figures are given 

 (pi. 18. tigs. 4, 5). The two specimens in the Count's possession were 

 very imperfect. 



t Pascoe, Journ. of Entom. ii. p. 45->. 



