50 Mr. H. Campion 07i 



erect any new genus to receive the Oceanic forms. Another 

 reason against generic separation may be found in the fact 

 that S.fenella, notwithstanding its apparent distinctness, is 

 evidently closely related to its larger congeners in the same 

 island, for in all four species the hamule is of the same 

 characteristic form. Viewed in profile, that organ is more 

 or less definitely sickle-shaped, and projects conspicuously 

 from the second abdominal segment, a condition of things 

 which has no parallel in any otlier Synthemini I have been 

 able to examine. 



It may not be without significance that all the extra- 

 Australian species of the Synthemis group which have been 

 made known belong to the genus Synthemis, as restricted by 

 the latest reviser. These are S. primigenia, Forster, and 

 S. ivollastoyii, Campion, from New Guinea ; S. macrostigma, 

 Selys, from Fiji ; and S. miranda, with the three new species 

 to be brought forward herein, from New Caledonia. The 

 remaining genera, Eusi/nt/iemis, Choristhemis, and Synthemio- 

 psis, appear to occur only in continental Australia or the 

 dependent island of Tasmania. It may be also worthy of 

 notice that, while the genus Synthemis itself contains all the 

 largest insects included in the group Synthemini, the species 

 of greatest dimensions within the genus have an extra- 

 Australian distribution. Even S. macrostigma, although 

 only of moderate size, has its biggest representatives in Fiji 

 ancl its smallest in S.W. Australia. 



Synthemis miranda, Selys. 



c? (allotype), Mt. Mou, 9. iii. 14 (No. 464). 



Length of abdomen 51 mm. ; hind wing 39 ram. 



Head very hairy. Labium metallic black. Labrum metallic 

 black, with a pair of large round golden spots near the 

 middle. Clypeus whitish. Frons metallic blue-black, with 

 a large whitish spot on each side, in the angle formed by the 

 clypeus and the eye. Vertex metallic blue-black. Antennae 

 metallic black ; the tip whitish. Occipital triangle metallic 

 blue-black. 



Prothorax black. 



Meso-metathorax chocolate-brown above ; below the 

 humeral suture metallic black, with green and purple 

 reflections; on each side an uninterrupted white stripe, of 

 moderate width, enclosing the metastigma ; a broader Avhite 

 stripe crossing the metepimeron. 



Wings (PI. VIII. fig. 12) hyaline, with a trace of yellow 

 at the base, especially of the hind wing. Costa black, with 



