3 30 Transactions. — Zoology. 



Hybolasius, nov. gen. 



I 



Gen. Hebeseci affine. Corpus oblongum, tomentosum. Caput retractum, 

 fronte quadratum. Antennae corpore paulo longiores, ciliatse \ scapo quam 

 articulo tertio multo breviore, breviter clavato ; articulis tertio et quarto 

 cseteris singulis multo longioribus, hoc paulo curvato. Thorax lateribus 

 tuberculatis . Elytra apice rotundata, basi utrinque cristata. Pedes robusti ; 

 femora clavata ; tibise gradatim dilatatse, intermediis vix emarginatis. 



This genus is founded on a common New Zealand insect, the Lamia crista 

 of Fabricius, which White placed in the genus Pogonocherus. It agrees with 

 Pogonocherus in many essential characters — such as the structure of the 

 sterna, the form of the sockets of the anterior and middle coxse, and the 

 divaricate claws ; but the antennae resemble much more nearly those of 

 Hebesecis and the allied genera, differing chiefly in the shorter and more 

 regularly clavate scape. There is, however, scarcely any difference in the 

 formulae given by Lacordaire of the two groups Hebesecides and Pogonocherides, 

 although he places them so widely apart. The genus is also closely allied to 

 the Chilian (Ectropsis, placed by Lacordaire in the Exocentrides group. 



Hybolasius crista. 



Lamia crista, Fab. Syst. Entom. p. 170. 



Fabricius describes the basal tubercles of the elytra as tridentate ; but, as 

 I have satisfied myself by examination of his type specimen in the Banksian 

 collection, they are not toothed at all, but surmounted by a compressed 

 pencil of hairs. This type is a large form of the species (3f lines), of tawny 

 brown colour, with the narrow black posterior fascia unaccompanied by a 

 broader dark belt. Most of the examples I have seen (from Auckland) are 

 smaller, about 3 lines, with much darker brown elytra, having the shoulders 

 and an apical spot tawny, and a broad posterior blackish fascia, the anterior 

 margin of which is black, margined again anteriority with light tawny. But 

 all connecting gradations occur, and I believe they form only one variable 

 species. It may be known from its congeners by the elevated penicillated 

 crests, the robust acute lateral thoracic tubercles, and the finely striated 

 integument of the thorax. 



Hybolasius viridescens, n. sp. 

 H. subdepressus, hirsutus, fuscus ; elytris herbaceo-viridibus, medio dorsi 

 fulvescentibus, strigaque obliqua nigra ; thoracis tuberculis lateralibus magnis 

 obtusis, dorso haud striato, medio trituberculato ; elytris cristis basalibus 

 parvis vix penicillatis, costa marginali altera flexuosa dorsali obtusis. Long. 

 2 i— 2£ lin. 



Auckland (Mr. Lawson). 



Distinguishable from H. crista at once by the small basal crests of the 

 elytra, which have a minute pencil of hairs, sometimes absent : the thorax has 



