:)-2(> iMr. G. J. Arrow on Beetles of the Melolonlhid 



The three species are very closely related, and all have 

 been found in the same island, Yiti Levn. Although 

 forming a separate group, the features wliich divide thera 

 from the Australian forms of Rhopcea are so slight that 

 there appears to me no sufficient reason for excluding them 

 from the genus. They difl'er from the more typical species 

 in having a narrower pronotum, angulated at the sides and 

 not dilated, with a slight pit near the middle, in which is 

 aggregated a cluster of the fine setae with which the body 

 is clothed. The basal joint of the hind tarsus is distinctly 

 longer than the succeeding one, the tooth beneath the claws 

 is very minute, placed near the base and united Avith the 

 basal dilatation, andthe antennal club consists of six lamellae 

 in the male and three in the female. The spurs of the hind 

 tibiae are slender in the male, broad and i)lunt in the female, 

 with the terminal part thin and translucent. In the 

 Australian species of Rhopaa, as Blackburn has pointed out, 

 these spines are slender in both sexes. 



The three Fijian species may be distinguished by the 

 following diflFerential characters : — 



Sculpture of tlie upper surface very fine and dense . . vestiia, sp. u. 

 Sculpture of the upper surface not very fine and dense. 



Rather shining ; elytra distinctly punctured .... suhnitida, sp. n. 



Not shining ; elytra rugose vitiensis, Fainn. 



Rhopaa vestita, sp. n. 



Fusco-rufa, abdomiue nigro, setis minutis decumbentibus griseis 

 omnino vestita, pectore dense sat longe fulvo-hirto ; corpore baud 

 longe ovali, convexo, capito crebre punctato, fronte magis grosse 

 et rugose; clypeo lato, margine antico reflexo, medio levitcr 

 sinuato ; prouoto baud lato, dense ruguloso-puuctato, lineola 

 minuta mediana Isevi fossulaque anteriori dense setosa, lateribus 

 medio fortiter angulatis, augulis posticis quam auticos fere acuti- 

 oribus; elytris .subtiliter et dense rugulosis, vix costatis ; pygidii 

 medio hevi, lateribus rugulosis et setosis : 



(J , antennarum articulo 4" spinoso, 5"* modice producto, G°-10° 

 subajqualiter lamellatis. 



Long. IG-IS'S mm., lat. max. 8-9'5 mm. 



Hub. YiTi Levu, Sigatoka Dist. (May to August, 

 R. Veitch C)- D. S. North) ; Nadi Dist. (J. F. JlUngivorth). 



Large numbers of this insect have been found in all stages 

 in thesugar-plantations by Mr. R. Veitch, who intends sliortly 

 to publish an account of it from the economic standpoint. 



It is smaller than the hitherto-known species of Rhopcea, 

 reddish brown in colour, with a black abdomen, very finely 

 and densely sculptured ujjou the pronotum, scutellum. 



