I finncnnpiera of the Australian Txcglon. 117 



joints licinjj subequal. Mesoiiotum sliining between the 

 coarse i)unc'tnn's, wliicli are rather sparser in the fciiiale 

 than in the male, distinctly lonpitndinally impressed down 

 the middle and more or less distinctly on each side of this. 

 Anterior area of propodcum rngnlose, beyond this with 

 dense and eonspicuons appressed white plumose pubescence ; 

 scutellum subpromineut on each side. Abdomen with only 

 very feeble punctures, the apical margins of the segments 

 widely impunctate. Apex of hind tibiim of tl)c female with 

 two very short but distinct blunt spines. Owing to the [)alc 

 hairs the spines are difficult to see in the male, but I detected 

 two in one of the examples. 

 ? . Length 6 mm. 



The type is in the British Museum, 



A variety from Mackay has the clypeus largely black in 

 the middle and the orbital lines very widely broken. 



Hab. Cairns {Tiovier, Dodd) ; Mackay {Turner). 



Ceratinidae. 

 Neoceratina, gen. nov. 



General form and appearance of a smallish Ceratlna, 

 similar mandibular characters, but the maxillary palpi with 

 only five joints, the first two by far the longest, the second 

 about twice as long as the third, which is subequal to the 

 fourth, the fifth being slender and acuminate. The first 

 joint is of peculiar form, much more solid than the second, 

 and thickened on its basal portion, in length not differing 

 much from the latter. AVings with the second transverse 

 cubitus strongly curved, nearly meeting the first transverse 

 on the radius, the recurrent nervures received a short and 

 about equal distance within the second and thii-d cubital 

 cells respectively. 



Shuckard gives the generic characters of the well-known 

 European Ceratina cyanea at some length ; the maxillary 

 palpi as "6-jointed, the three first joints subequal, the three 

 terminal gradually decreasing in length," This agrees in 

 general with a North American species which I dissected 

 for comparison. This has three long basal joints, not differ- 

 ing much in length, but the fourth is very short, the fifth 

 rather longer, the sixth slender and acuminate. The Aus- 

 tralian insect is therefore very different from these, 



Neoceratiiia australensis, sp. n. 

 Female black, with slight tencous tinge ; abdomen with 



