227 



joint of the antennae, in the female it is half as much again. 

 The club varies from moderately infuscated to quite black ; the 

 dark parts of the legs are the tarsi, knees, and most of the hind 

 femora, but the extent of the genicular and femoral 

 infuscation varies ; the prothorax and* eljrtra are often of a 

 uniform shade, but sometimes the prothorax has a more 

 coppery appearance than the elytra. 



Two females, from Rottnest Island, have the seriate 

 punctures somewhat smaller than usual, although still of 

 large size, being distinctly narrower than the interstices, 

 some males associated with them, however, have punctures 

 of normal size. Two specimens, sexes, from the Swan River, 

 have all the punctures larger and denser than usual, on the 

 pronotum some of them being confluent, but on each of them 

 there is a narrow impunctate line on the basal half of the 

 pronotum. 



Frothorax and dytra both glabrous. 

 A. Elytra not entirtly dark. 



DiTROPIDUS ALPHABETICUS, U. sp. 



o' . Dark coppery-green (or blue) ; under-surface black, 

 with or without a metallic gloss; elytra flavous with the suture 

 (rather widely and irregularly), base (with an extension on 

 each shoulder), sides (narrowly), and a large median spot on 

 each (sometimes joined to the shoulder), coppery-green, or 

 blue, or purple ; labrurn and basal half of antennae flavous. 

 Under-surface and legs with sparse, whitish pubescence, 

 sparser on head. 



Head with fairly dense, sharply defined punctures, 

 becoming crowded in front. Eyes widely separated. 

 Prothorax about twice as wide as the median length, strongly 

 narrowed in front; punctures rather small and sharply 

 defined, but nowhere dense. Elytra slightly wider than long; 

 with rows of small punctures, on the sides set in distinct 

 striae. Length ( o% 9)? 3-4 mm. 



9 • Differs in being more robust, elytra less narrowed 

 posteriorly, antennae and legs thinner, and in the abdomen. 



Hab. — South Au^ralia (Macleay Museum), Port Lincoln 

 (Blackburn's collection). Type, I. 4408. 



Allied to ornatus, but the dark parts of the prothorax 

 and elytra with a conspicuous metallic gloss, the elytral 

 markings different, and the inter-ocular space glabrous; in 

 some of these characters the types agree with South Australian 

 specimens that I have regarded as varieties of ornatus, but 

 the elytral markings are essentially different, the legs of the 

 males are less powerful, and the punctures are not quite the 

 same. The dark basal and sutural markings of the elytra are 



