249 



towards £ipex; each claw with a rather stout supplementary 

 piece at the base. 



Readily distinguished from all Australian genera of the 

 subfamily by the remarkable structure of the male tibiae, 

 which is described at length under the species. 



Sellechus tibialis, n. sp. 

 Black; antennse (the club excepted), tibiae, and tarsi 

 reddish, rostrum obscurely diluted with red towards the 

 apex. Upper surface rather densely clothed with short dark 

 pubescence or seise, with paler setae or pubescence scattered 

 about, and sometimes condensed into small spots at the junc- 

 tion of the prothorax and elytra. Under surface, legs, 

 head between eyes, and base of rostrum, with whitish 

 pubescence. Tibiae of male, and especially the hind pair, 

 with long golden hair tov/ards the apex. 



Head with dense but more or less concealed punctures. 

 Rostrum thin, moderately curved, about the length of pro- 

 thorax ; with a fine median continuous carina, and with rows 

 of punctures, becoming very irregular, however, in front of 

 antennae; sculpture on basal half more or less concealed in 

 male, on basal fifth only in female. Antennae thin, in male 

 inserted about one-fourth from apex of rostrum, in female 

 almost in exact middle of sides; scape almost the length of 

 funicle in male, but shorter in female; two basal joints of 

 funicle elongate, but first longer, than second; club elliptic- 

 ovate. Prothorax rather feebly convex, about once and one 

 fourth as wide as long, apex much narrower than base; with 

 dense, rather fine and partially concealed punctures; usually 

 with traces of a very feeble median carina. Elytra elongate- 

 cordate, almost parallel-sided from near the base to middle; 

 with series of rather small punctures; interstices, except to- 

 wards apex and sides, not separately convex, with small and 

 more or less concealed punctures. Under surface of male 

 with a wide shallow depression, continuous from near base 

 of metasternum to near apex of abdomen; in female this space 

 flattened. Femora stouter and more curved in male than in 

 female. Length, 2^-3 mm. 



Hab.—'^ew South Wales: Tamworth (A. M. Lea). 

 Two of the eight specimens examined are of a piceous 

 brown, but all the others are of a deep black. To the naked 

 eye the upper surface appears to be of a rather dingy black. 

 The rostrum of the female is thinner and with much finer 

 sculpture than that of the male, its widest part is at the 

 base, and thence it is parallel-sided to the apex; in the male 

 its widest part is between the antennas and apex. Except 

 towards the apex and sides there is a complete absence of 



