132 PERCY SLADEN TRUST EXPEDITION 



Small and depressed ; general colour dark chestnut, or red and black, the elytra 

 always pale ; covered with long, fine, pale hairs. 



Antenna? with 12 segments, all slender and cylindrical, third and fourth about equally 

 long, the apical segments longer ; basal segment black, 2 — 5 yellowish, 6 — 9 black, 

 10—12 whitish. 



Head shining dark chestnut or black, smooth and depressed. 



Pronotum rectangular, a little longer than broad, shining black, shading to yellowish 

 at the sides. 



Elytra pale straw-coloured, with a narrow dusky border. 



Wings prominent, black. 



Legs not very long ; femora dusky, pale at the knees ; tibia? and tarsi yellowish ; the 

 latter rather short, the third segment a little shorter than the first. 



Abdomen depressed, brick-red or dark chestnut, very finely punctulate, slightly dilated 

 about the middle in the $, as well as in the $ ; lateral tubercles on third and fourth segments 

 feeble. 



Last dorsal segment $, rectangular, smooth and transverse with a median depression 

 and feebly tumid elevation over the roots of the forceps ; similar in the $, but a little 

 narrower. 



Pygidium $ depressed, short and broad, the posterior margin truncate, the angles 

 themselves forming sharp points as the sides are concave ; in the $ very short and tumid. 



Forceps with the branches in the $ remote at the base and quite straight, with a 

 sharp tooth in the middle of the inner margin, then, before the apex, abruptly bowed 

 inwards almost at a right angle. By variety, the tooth is sub-obsolete and the curvature 

 very weak. In the ? the branches are stouter, trigonal, less remote, stronger, scarcely 

 arcuate, except at the tips themselves, with a depressed obtuse tooth just before the 

 middle. 



This is a very distinct species ; the form of the forceps recalls Palex sparattoides 

 but the pygidium is free and the antenna? have a different structure ; the forceps 

 in their strong curvature approach those of S. brunneri Borm. from Australia. 



I know of no other species in this group of genera having the forceps quite of 

 this form, and the pygidium is also characteristic. In most specimens it is scarcely 

 discernible, being but feebly protruding, the upper surface being nearly vertical, so that 

 the posterior margin is inferior. In one specimen, however, it is projecting and the outline 

 perfectly distinct. 



The contrasted coloration is also unusual in this group ; the variegated antenna?, pale 

 elytra, black pronotum and wings, red abdomen, must give it a handsome and very distinct 

 appearance when alive, and even in dried specimens the contrast is quite noticeable. In 

 life, the elytra are conspicuously white. There seems to be a certain amount of perma- 

 nence in the diverse coloration of the antennal segments, but it is improbable that the 

 colour of each individual segment is stable. 



The rectangular pronotum really forbids its inclusion in the genus Sparatta, but 

 until the confusion that reigns in this group is cleared up, it may as well be placed 





