92 



above can be clue to immaturity as they are quite symmetrical on 

 ■either side. It was taken in company with the other specimens. 

 Victoria ; Alpine district, in fungi. 



HISTERIDiE. 



CHLAMYDOPSIS. 



I feel some hesitation in referring the following two species to 

 this genus, nor do I feel sure that they ought not to be regarded 

 as members of two allied genera, both distinct from Chlcunydopsis. 

 They certainly, I think, appertain to the Histeridce, and they 

 agree very fairly with Professor Westwood's characters of the 

 said genus (I do not feel quite satisfied whether the antennae have 

 eight or nine joints) as far as those characters go, but it appears 

 to me that if those characters were drawn up from a species at 

 all closely allied to those before me, they do not suificiently indi- 

 cate the extraordinary appearance of the insects, which are 

 .among the most wonderful I have ever seen. The two examples 

 before me differ very strongly inter se (probably they are male 

 and female of two species), but they agree in the remarkable rela- 

 tion of the head and prothorax to each other — a character so 

 .singular that I do not like to separate them generically. The 

 head, including the antennae, exactly fits into the cavity of the 

 prothorax, without protruding from it in tlie smallest degree, so 

 that in repose the insect appears to have no head, and when 

 looked at from in front the appearance is of the cavity of the 

 prothorax being stopped by an even vertical plate. If the an- 

 tenme be drawn out (no easy task!) the head is visible — the 

 cavity of the prothorax being looked at from in front — occupying 

 the middle portion of the cavity, and having on either side of it 

 a large cavern, wliich is exactly filled by an antenna when the in- 

 sect is in a state of repose. The antennae are on the same plan 

 as those of the Dynastid-genus Cryptodus, consisting of a large 

 lamelliform basal joint (which is the joint that forms the door of 

 the aperture of the antennal cavity), into the hind surface of 

 which is inserted a very short stem,* at the end of which is a 

 very elongate club, consisting of a single joint. All the tarsi fit 

 completely into cavities in the tibiae ; the front tibiae fall into 

 grooves of their femora, the front legs fit completely and exactly 

 into cavities at the sides of the presternum. The whole upper 

 surface is uneven, in a manner defying exact description. The 

 body is furnished with wings. The prosternum is produced an- 

 teriorly as in the " Histerides vrais" of Lacordaire. The pro- 

 sternum and mesosternum present truncate and closely applied 

 faces to each other. 



* As ah-eady noted, I cannot satisfy myself whether this consists of six or 

 seven joints ; but seven is the more probable number. 



