TenebrionidiB/J-om Australia and Tasmania. 147 



short, gradually thicker outwards, the third joint a little longer 

 than the second and fourth, and all, as far as the seventh, ob- 

 conic ; eighth, ninth, and tenth broader and shorter, the last 

 larger than the preceding, round and a little depressed. Men- 

 turn shortly pedunculate, hexagonal, winged * ; labium very 

 transverse, subtrilobed. Maxillary lobes — inner narrow, gra- 

 dually terminating in a strong hook ; outer short, broad, some- 

 what triangular. Maxillary palpi stout, the last joint securi- 

 form ; labial short, last joint large, cup-shaped. Prothorax 

 convex, broader than long, sides rounded, terminating poste- 

 riorly in a strongly produced acute angle ; apex deeply and 

 broadly emarginate, base bisinuate. Elytra ovate, as broad 

 as the prothorax, convex ; epipleura? entire, gradually narrow- 

 ing from the shoulder to the apex. Legs stout, the posterior 

 longest; femora gradually thickened, furnished with tro- 

 chanters ; tibias shortly spurred, intermediate and anterior 

 arched ; tarsi short, entire, the claw-joint longer than the rest 

 together. Prosternum broad, produced behind. Mesosternum 

 broadly V-shaped. Metasternum very short. Intercoxal pro- 

 cess small, quadrate. Abdomen with the third and fourth 

 segments strongly incurved at the sides. 



In habit resembling Pediniis, with which I at first thought 

 this genus might possibly be connected ; but its true place is 

 with the Ccelometopina?. Mr. F. Bates has already placed his 

 two Australian genera Hypaulax and Chileone, dismembered 

 from Nyctobates, in this subfamily ; but these are very different 

 in appearance from Aspkalus. There is a considerable depres- 

 sion on the throat of the species here described, which repre- 

 sents the grooves of Hypaulax and Gadometopus. The lower 

 lip is also remarkable, inasmuch as the central lobe appears to 

 be corneous, whilst the lateral ones are membranous. 



Asphalus ebeninus. PI. XI. fig. 3. 



A. aterrimns, nitidus, laevis ; elytris leviter punctato-striatis. 



Hob. Clarence River. 



Deep black, smooth and shining ; antennse and tarsi ferru- 

 ginous ; head and prothorax very minutely punctured, the 

 latter with the sides rather more broadly margined anteriorly 

 than posteriorly ; scutellum very short, transverse ; elytra very 

 convex, faintly punctate-striate, the epipleura at its junction 



* Mr. F. Bates (Trans. Ent. Soc. 18(38, p. 259) proposes by this word to 

 designate that "peculiar form of mentum composed of a central portion 

 large and convex and two smaller flat pieces (wings) situated on each side 

 at the baek." These wings appear to be the " lateral lobes " of Dr. Leconte. 

 The presence of these lobes differentiates Nyctobates from Iphthhmts. 



10* 



