400 COLEOPTERA 



Length, nearly 2 lines. 



I found one mutilated individual at Parua, near Whangarei Harbour. 



705. S. lautUS, n.s. In general outline resembling S. angusti- 

 collis, but with rather shorter and stouter antennae. 



Head and thorax red and glossy, the former with a brassy sheen; 

 elytra bright castaneous, with a broad curved fascia behind, blackish ; 

 legs yellow, antennae reddish, with the terminal joints rather dull. The 

 head is moderately elongate, nearly smooth on the vertex, rather coarsely 

 punctate near the eyes and behind, but distinctly wrinkled in front, with 

 the labrum smooth and shining. Prothorax cordate, longer than broad, 

 widest near the front, much narrower than the elytra ; its surface a little 

 uneven, and, except the smooth dorsal line, somewhat coarsely punc- 

 tured. Elytra oblong, widest behind the middle, their shoulders a 

 little elevated, depressed in front of the middle ; their sculpture consists 

 of rows of punctures, with striae near the base, but the space behind the 

 fascia smooth. The body bears only a few fine erect grey hairs. The 

 two basal joints of the antenna are stout, the exposed portion of the 

 first not much longer than the short second joint ; three to five longer 

 than broad, the third longest ; joints six to eight increase in bulk, simi- 

 lar in form ; ninth and tenth about as long as broad, each larger than 

 the preceding ; eleventh longer than tenth. 



Length, ii ; breadth, i line. 



I found one example near Whangarei Harbour. 



FAMILY MELANDRYIDES. 



Mentum transversal. Ligula somewhat prominent. The two lobes 

 of the maxilla lamelliform and ciliated. Maxillary palpi ordinarily 

 long, robust and pendant, often serrate, terminating in a large cultriform 

 or securiform joint. Mandibles short. Head without neck, deflexed, 

 often invisible above. Eyes emarginate. Antenna with eleven, seldom 

 with ten joints, inserted in front of the eyes, nearly always filiform, or 

 slightly thickened towards the extremity. Thorax rather wider than the 

 elytra at the base, the pronotum distinct from its flanks. Anterior 

 coxa variable, contiguous or not, often furnished with trochantina, their 

 cotyloid cavities open behind; the intermediate oval, approximating, 

 with trochantina ; the posterior strongly transversal, contiguous or sub- 

 contiguous : the four front tarsi with five, the posterior with four joints ; 

 the penultimate joint often bilobed, the claws almost invariably simple. 

 Metathoracic episterna parallel; epimera distinct. Abdomen with five 

 segments. 



Group MELANDRYID^E. 



Antenna filiform or thickening gradually towards the extremity ; 

 their terminal joint very rarely clavate. 



Ctenoplectron. 



Redtenbacher ; Voy. Novara^ Zool. 



Antenna undecim-articulatae, filiformes, dimidii corporis longitudine, 

 articulo secundo sequentibus, inter se longitudine fere sequalibus, duplo 



