319 



Hab. — Queensland : Mount Tambourine (W. W. Frog- 

 gatt). Type, I. 7808. 



A very interesting insect. 



Brachaciptera auricoma, n. sp. 



Castaneous; head, antennae (two basal joints excepted), 

 sterna, abdomen (the base almost white), and tarsi more or 

 less deeply infuscated, elytra paler but infuscated outwardly, 

 hind femora paler on basal half. Head, prothorax, and 

 scutellum densely clothed with short, golden, suberect pubes- 

 cence, similar pubescence elsewhere but sparser, the elytra 

 very sparsely clothed. Length, 9-9^- mm. 



Hab. — Northern Queensland (Blackburn's collection) : 

 Cairns district (F. P. Dodd). Type, I. 7809. 



Close to the preceding species but differently clothed and 

 somewhat different in colour, head with denser and finer 

 punctures, antennae slightly stouter, lateral tubercles of pro- 

 thorax very obtuse and the discal ones smaller, pale portion 

 of elytra not shagreened but with small scattered punctures, 

 incurvature between each shoulder and scutellum much less 

 pronounced, middle legs scarcely longer than front ones, and 

 hind tibiae less strongly inflated towards apex. On a second 

 specimen the pubescence is less conspicuously golden than on 

 the type. 



CHRYSOMELIDAE. 



Halticorcus, n. g. 



Head rather small, face vertical. Eyes rather large and 

 moderately faceted. Antennae moderately long, bases close 

 together, six basal joints rather thin, the following five stout. 

 Maxillary palpi not very long, apical joint acute, subapical 

 subquadrate. Prothorax very widely transverse, non-sulcate, 

 lateral margins very narrow. Scutellum small. Elytra very 

 little longer than wide, sides strongly rounded; epipleurae 

 wide, convex near base, concave at base itself and posteriorly, 

 terminated near apex. Legs short and stout ; front coxal 

 cavities widely open behind; tibiae armed at apex with a 

 feeble simple mucro; tarsi short, first and fourth joints sub- 

 equal in length, claws each with a large basal appendix. 



The apportionment of species to the genera of Halticides 

 tabled by Blackburn (ante, 1876, pp. 40, 41) requires that at 

 least one specimen of every species shall be broken, as the 

 leading character of that table (the front coxal cavities) is 

 of such a nature that the prothorax must be separated from 

 the mesothorax (and usually a front leg must be pulled out) 

 to see the cavities at all clearly. This I have done with the 

 present species, and in that table it would be placed in A A, 



