245 



inornata, to which at first glance it appears to belong. In 

 some lights the elytral pubescence appears to be of a rusty- 

 brown, and that on the scutellum greyish. 



TOMOXIA EXOLETA, n. Sp. 



Black. Pubescence obscurely variegated. 



Rather short and compact. Scutellum with sides oblique 

 but angularly cutting into elytra. Pygidium short, its tip 

 truncated. Spurs to hind tibiae unequal. Length, 3f-4 mm. 



Hab. — North-western Australia. Type, in Macleay 

 Museum; co-type, I. 6018, in South Australian Museum. 



A dingy-looking species, in general apoearance close to 

 some varieties of Mordella baldiensis, but with the pygidium 

 and scutellum of a Tomoxia; apart from the clothing it is 

 distinguished from aterrima by the scutellum being longer, 

 with the hind angles obliquely cut off instead of almost 

 rectangular, and consequently less conspicuously, although 

 distinctly, cutting into the elytra. The general pubescence 

 is of a dingy yellowish-grey (becoming somewhat ashen and 

 moderately variegated on the abdomen), but on some speci- 

 mens is almost black, with, in certain lights, a vague 

 purplish gloss; on some specimens very vague oblique lines 

 on the elytra may be traced, but not at all approaching 

 those of 6-lineata. There were six specimens in the Macleay 

 Museum, but of these five had their heads partly or entirely 

 destroyed by museum vermin. 



Tomoxia melanura, n. sp. 



Black; palpi, base of antennae, and parts of four front 

 legs reddish. Densely clothed with silken-grey pubescence, 

 except on tips of elytra, and for an obscure spot towards 

 each side of each abdominal segment. 



Moderately elongate. Scutellum short, sides oblique. 

 Pygidium short and conspicuously truncated. Antennae with 

 the fifth and following joints rather wide. Spurs to hind 

 tibiae very unequal. Length, 4-4 J mm. 



Hab. — Queensland: Cairns district (F. P. Dodd). Tvi^e, 

 I. 5926. 



Like apicata on a greatly reduced scale, but pygidium 

 wider and more conspicuously truncated at tip, and scutellum 

 with the hind angles more rounded off and consequently less 

 conspicuously cutting into the elytra, clothing of under- 

 surface more uniform, and parts of four front legs reddish. 

 From some directions the pubescence on the pronotum appears 

 to be uniformly pale, but from others three dark spots 

 (typical of the smaller species of Mordella) are vaguely 

 indicated. 



