MR. A. MURRAY'S MONOGRAPH OF THE FAMILY OF NITIDULARLE. 291 
posterior angles, fringed with hairs. Scutellum moderate, punctate. Elytra nearly 
twice as long as the thorax, striate, with the interstices bearing fine, delicate, distinct 
punctures ; the basal half marked with a broad deep-orange-coloured band, interrupted at 
the suture by a space as broad as the scutellum, clothed with pubescence of the colour 
of the part on which it is found. Abdomen piceous, paler in the middle, and with the 
margins rufescent, finely punctate; fimbriz, except on the pygidium, widest behind. 
Legs testaceous. 
From Victoria. More common in collections than B. basalis. 
4. DRACHYPEPLUS BLANDUS. 
Affinis .B. binotato: oblongo-ovatus, latior, magis pubescens; antennis rufis, 
clava fusca; prothorace lateribus parum sinuatis, expansis et rufescenti- 
bus; elytris thorace parum latioribus, macula basali aurantiaca ad su- 
turam interrupta; abdomine supra segmento antepenultimo aurantiaco, 
penultimo medio piceo-rufo, lateribus piceis ; pygidio piceo, subtus piceo- 
ferrugineo. Long. 2 lin., lat. 2 lin. 
Habitat in Victoria in Australia. ; 
Very closely allied to B. binotatus. Oblong-ovate, broad, very pubescent. Antenne 
rufous, with the club dusky. Head finely punctate and bifoveolate in front. Thorax 
broader, more expanded than in B. binotatus, thickly clothed with long black pubescence, 
and with the sides more rufescent and densely fringed with short hairs. Scutellum 
moderate. Elytra costate, the striae between the costae comparatively coarsely and trans- 
versely punctate, black, with a broad orange-coloured band stretching across the basal 
half, interrupted at the suture. Abdomen piceous above, piceo-ferruginous below, very 
pubescent, above with the first exposed segment orange-coloured, the second exposed 
segment piceo-rufous in the middle; pygidium piceous black; fimbrize, except on the 
pygidium, widest behind. Legs rufo-testaceous. The pubescence throughout is long 
and plentiful, and of the colour of the surface below it. 
From South Australia, between Melbourne and the gold-diggings. 
The three species, B. basalis, B. binotatus, and B. blandus, are very like each other, 
and are confounded in most collections. The following distinctions will enable them to 
be easily recognized and separated :— B. blandus is broader than either of the other two. 
The club of the antennz is red in B. basalis, black or dusky in B. binotatus and B. blandus. 
The basal patch on the elytra in B. basalis is dull and testaceo-rufous ; in the others it 
is deep orange, enlivened by the silky sheen of a lighter orange-coloured pubescence: in 
B. basalis it is a large, single, triangular patch around the scutellum ; in the others it is 
separated into two nearly square patches by a space at the suture as broad as the scu- 
tellum. In .B. basalis the elytra are a very little larger and wider behind. In B. basalis 
and 8. binotatus they are not costate but merely striate, and the flat interstices are 
regularly and finely punctate, the punetures small, round, and separate from each other. 
In B. blandus it is the strive which are punctured, and their width and depth are 
increased, so that the interstices stand up as narrow impunctate costs, and the punc- 
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