518 



I think this species should be regarded as having the 

 hind angles of the prothorax excised, although the excisions 

 are less pronounced than in some species, they are much as 

 on ch/pea'is, acutangulus, and imitator, commented upon by 

 Blackburn as doubtful in this respect; the species therefore 

 is associated with AA, BB (if not referred there in Blackburn's 

 table it could hardly be referred to A A, E, as the angles are 

 not acute, although the base is strongly sinuate, or to E, as 

 the base is strongly sinuate and the angles obtuse), and with 

 excisicollis, from which it differs in being much smaller and 

 in many other particulars; in size and general appearance, 

 and in its deeply notched clypeus, it seems quite close to 

 hoplocephalus, but the claws of that species are without basal 

 quills. Four of the five specimens under examination have on 

 each elytron a shining subcarinate elevation from the shoulder 

 to the basal third (apparently as in froygatti, from the 

 description of which, however, it differs in many particulars), 

 and commencing near it (but nearer the side) another one 

 that is continued almost to the apex, where it turns round 

 and terminates half-way to the suture ; the latter is somewhat 

 suggestive of the sexual brands of Automolus, but it is 

 certainly not a feminine character, as the basal joints of the 

 hind tarsi have the rather dense clothing of many males of 

 the genus ; the fifth specimen is entirely without the shining 

 lines, and the basal joint of its hind tarsi (the only one left) 

 is without sexual adornment. On one of the males (otherwise 

 normal) two of the joints of each club are longitudinally cleft 

 down the middle, so that the club appears to be five-jointed. 

 Antennalis, described as having a five-jointed club, and 

 apparently with very similar elytra, appears to have the 

 clypeus strikingly different. The mentum is subtriangular 

 and gently concave. 



Maechidius atratus, Burm., var. 

 Two specimens from Victoria (Emerald) would be 

 associated with atratus in Blackburn's table, and in size and 

 general appearance they are close to that species, but they are 

 shining instead of opaque, and the punctures of the upper 

 surface are considerably deeper (although scarcely wider) and 

 much more conspicuous, those of the pronotum being as on 

 macleayanus . The sinuation of the clypeus and base of 

 prothorax and the curious dentition of the front tibiae are 

 exactly as on typical specimens of atratus, so that it does not 

 appear desirable to regard these specimens as representing 

 more than a variety. 



