Tenebrionidoe /'/•<>7/i Australia and Tasmania. 33 



a species rcmarkaljle for tlie bearded mentum of its males — a 

 })cciiliarity Avliicli does not a])])ear to be anything more than 

 specific. This genus is difrcrcntiatcd both from Upis and 

 TpJiflihnus by the form of its pruthorax, and its entire margins 

 when compared with the hitter, — to wliich, as a secondary cha- 

 racter, may be athled the scul[)ture of its elytra. The first of 

 the two species described below has been long known in col- 

 lections ; and in my own it formerly stood as a Baryscelis^ an 

 unpublished name of Dr. Boisduval. IpJifJthnus ?i/7/r?/-,Blessig, 

 appears to be in some respects intermediate between the two 

 following. 



PrometMs lethalis. 



P. nigra, subnitida; prothorace basi angustiore ; clytris postice la- 

 tioribus, fortiter punctato-striatis, interstitiis convcxis. 



Hah. Queensland. 



Black, sliming ; head minutely punctured ; clypeus slightly 

 emarginate at the apex, separated from the front by a fine 

 transverse line bent downwards at the sides ; prothorax very 

 finely punctured, longer than in P. angidata^ gradually nar- 

 rowing towards the base, strongly canaliculate on the disk, 

 with two impressed spots on each side ; scutellum semicircular; 

 elytra much broader than the prothorax at the base, and gra- 

 dually widening posteriorly, rounding towards the apex, deeply 

 puncfate-striate, the punctures indistinct, the intervals raised 

 and very convex ; beneath glossy black ; first three segments 

 of the abdomen finely and thickly punctured ; legs pitchy ; 

 antennee ferruginous, scarcely extending to the middle of the 

 prothorax. Length 13 lines. 



A much larger species than P. angulata^ but w^ith shorter 

 antenna? proportionally, more nitid, a longer prothorax con- 

 tracted behind, and strongly striated elytra, which are con- 

 siderably broader posteriorly. In the following species the 

 elytra are nearly parallel, and the prothorax has the apex and 

 base of the same breadth. 



PrometMs quadricollls. 



P. nigra, subnitida ; prothorace transversim subquadrato ; elytris 

 subparallelis, punctato-striatis, interstitiis modice convexis. 



Hob. Swan River. 



Resembles the last, but with head and prothorax much less 

 finely punctured, the latter very much more transverse, not 

 narrower at the base, slightly canaliculate ; elytra nearly pa- 

 rallel at the sides, punctate-striate, the stria3 broad and shal- 

 low, the punctures large, intervals of the stria? moderately 

 convex ; abdomen very minutely punctured, the second and 



C 



