94 Mr. F. P. Pascoc on Additions to 



XII. — Additions to the TcncbrloiiiJto of Australia tOc. 

 By Fkaxcis r. Pascok, F.L.8., F.Z.S., &c. 



The following additions to the list of Australian Tenebrionidje 

 are mostly derived from a si'lect coUeetion sent me by ^Ir. 

 George ]\lasters, 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 perha])s is one be- 

 longing to Bolitophagina^ {Mi/chesfes), which frequents rotten 

 wood in which ])robably some minute fungus has made its 

 appearance. A few species remain for further investigation, 

 some not being in sufficiently good condition for description. 

 In the collection, but not belonging to the Tenebrionidje or 

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

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

 Erichson's curious ^eniis A ncistria, hitherto known only from 

 India, and of which no species occmTcd in the wonderfully 

 rich collections made by Mr. AVallace in the intervening ^la- 

 layan islands. 



Scymena'\ amjyhxhia. 



S. ovalis, pallida testacea, subnitida ; scutello valde transverso ; 

 clytris siilcato-punctatis, punctis minutis. 



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

 sand). 



Oval, moderately convex, pale testaceous, slightly nitid ; 

 head finely punctured, line of separation between the cly})eus 

 and front not shar])ly defined, but of a darker colour ; antennge 

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

 slightly moniliform ; prothorax rather finely punctured, tlie 

 apex very slightly emarginate ; scutellum very transverse ; 

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

 grooves, the intervals very miimtely, almost obsolctely punc- 

 tured ; tibiie and tarsi roughly ciliatetl, the latter somewhat 

 slender. Length 3 lines. 



In general appearance this species closely resembles the 

 common Phaleria cadaverina of our southern coasts, and pro- 

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

 the ojtportunity. ]\Ir. Masters says that it is found " burrow- 



* Since this was written, I have .«een reason to believe that this is the in- 

 sect described by tlie Count of Castelnau, in the Rev. et Ma^*-. de Zoologie 

 for September, p. .'^^O, under the name of Xrpfi<iiis ahtta. It is refen-ed 

 to the Colydiidae, and " periiaps near Cossi/phorlcs," and figures are ^ven 

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

 very imperfect. 



t Pascoe, Jouni. of Entom. ii. p. 45-j. 



