221 



in the direction of sydneyana, and others in the direction of 

 limbata. It was a form of elegans that Macleay identified 

 as australis from Gayndah ; but it differs from the species he 

 had in his own collection as australis (the species I described 

 as such) by the elytra having a basal mark running parallel 

 with the suture, instead of diverging from it. 



MORDELLA ELONGATULA, Mad. 



On the pronotum of this species there is usually a 

 round black spot towards each side as well as the median 

 vitta, and the latter is sometimes not at all interrupted at 

 its middle. 



A specimen from Aru (H. Elgner) probably belongs to 

 this species; it has a wide median vitta and two large spots 

 on the pronotum ; on the elytra the golden pubescence about 

 the base appears as rather fine lines enclosing five black spots, 

 the postmedian fascia is almost as distinct as on the typical 

 form, but the subapical one is reduced in size and composed 

 of silvery pubescence. 



Mordella felix, Waterh. 

 PI. xiv., figs. 66-70; pi. xv., figs. 119-121. 



The very different shape of the median fascia of this 

 species is sufficiently distinctive from promiscua, but all the 

 elytral markings tend to obliteration ; on the other hand, the 

 median fascia and basal markings are frequently connected, 

 so that it is not always easy to distinguish such specimens 

 from limbata. On many specimens there are two oblique 

 vittae from the base of each elytron, an obscurely-define'd 

 humeral one, and a narrower, more sharply-defined one half- 

 way between the shoulder and the suture; the average size 

 is below the average of promiscua. 



Mr. Dodd sent numerous specimens from Kuranda that 

 belong to the species, but their average size is distinctly less 

 than that of specimens from New South Wales; the pro- 

 thorax frequently has an iridescent gloss, and its paler 

 clothing (more or less golden) usually consists of a 

 narrow edging (fig. 119), frequently with, but often without, 

 two small discal spots, or the latter may be extended to join 

 in with a dilated apical border, and so to mark off the posi- 

 tions of three dark discal spots (fig. 120), although these are 

 never completely isolated, as they frequently are on specimens 

 (fig. 121) from New South Wales. The liability of the pro- 

 thoracic markings to vary in extent, however, is so great 

 in the family that reliance can seldom be placed upon them. 

 On most of the Kuranda specimens the elytra between the 

 base and the median fascia are more or less obscurely diluted 



