150 



identity, and have found it always the case that their punctura- 

 tion was practically identical. Females are apt to be punc- 

 tured a little more coarsely than males, which causes the punc- 

 tures to be a little closer to each other in the former 

 sex ; but if the punctures be counted there is scarcely any 

 variation in number. I think, therefore, that this character 

 is of practical value for forming secondary aggregates, although 

 I find it quite necessary to preface the tabulation with a note 

 on each aggregate of this nature calling attention to the 

 species which are near the border line. In the aggregate A 

 there are no species calling for remark in this respect, no 

 member of C approximating in puncturation to CC. In the 

 aggregate A A, under the heading CC, I have divided the 

 species into three sub-aggregates, according as the punctures 

 of the pronotum are (D) very numerous and close, 10 from 

 the front not nearly reaching the middle ; (DD) moderately 

 so, 20 or more in the whole length, 10 from the front reach- 

 ing the middle: and DDD decidedly sparse, 16 or less in the 

 whole length, 10 from the front reaching, well beyond the 

 middle. In D no species can rightly be deemed near the 

 border line. In DD the punctures of the pronotum are per- 

 haps a little close in II. maurulus, 10 from the front scarcely 

 reaching the middle of the segment, but in all the species 

 under D the punctures of the pronotum are very evidently 

 much closer still. In the aggregates founded on the elytra! 

 puncturation there are few, if any, species of doubtful posi- 

 tion. It will, however, be well to note that the position of 

 yilgarnensis in the aggregate having the elytral punctures 

 close perhaps calls for the remark that the elytral punctures of 

 that species are a little less close than in its companions, 12 

 from the suture reaching not far from the middle of the 

 elytron. 



It is, perhaps, hardly necessary to remind the student 

 that some of the characters indicated in the descriptions 

 must not be relied upon as exactly correct for speci- 

 mens other than those on which the descriptions were 

 founded without its being borne in mind that not all the 

 types can be depended upon to be ordinary types of fresh 

 examples. Specimens taken, often by non-scientific collectors, 

 in remote parts of Australia frequently occupy a long time 

 in travel before reaching the describer, and when they reach 

 him may have suffered more or less from abrasion and other 

 casualties, so that by that time some characters — especially 

 the degree of hindward dilatation of the elytra, the density 

 of the vestiture, and the colour — may not be quite as they are 

 in a perfectly fresh specimen. 



