355 



POROPTERUS TRIFOVEIVENTRIS, n. sp. 



Clothed with sooty-brown scales, dense and fasciculate on 

 tubercles, and usually sparse elsewhere : with a short oblique 

 stripe of pale scales, from the third to the seventh interstices, 

 at the apical third of elytra ; legs densely clothed with sooty- 

 brown scales, with feeble paler rings ; head and rostrum to 

 antennae densely clothed. 



Head large ; forehead lightly sinuate ; punctures normally 

 concealed. Rostrum rather short, stout, and lightly curved ; 

 sides distinctly inflated between base and antennae, and again 

 dilated to apex. Antennae rather stout, inserted one-third 

 from apex of rostrum; second joint of funicle distinctly longer 

 than first. Prothorax about as long as wide, somewhat flat- 

 tened, sides strongly rounded ; across middle with a double 

 series of four very feeble tubercles, supporting fascicles, the 

 median ones of these continued as feeble crests to apex ; with 

 rather large, irregularly-distributed punctures ; subapical con- 

 striction deep and irregular on sides, but not continued across 

 summit, Scutellum absent. Elytra elongate-ovate; with 

 large punctures becoming smaller posteriorly ; second inter- 

 stice with an interrupted fascicular crest, commencing at sum- 

 mit of posterior declivity, and continued to apex ; third with 

 an elongated fascicle near base, another about middle, and a 

 whitish one at summit of posterior declivity ; fifth with a 

 fascicle near base ; shoulders tuberculate, elsewhere with 

 feeble fascicles. Mesoster^ial recepfade as in preceding species. 

 Abdomen with first segment almost as long as three following 

 combined, near base with two large partially-conjoined foveae, 

 at apex with another fovea common to it and the second seg- 

 ment, suture between these segments deep at the sides, but 

 interrupted on each side of the fovea ; second almost as long 

 as third and fourth combined. Ler/s rather sliort and stout ; 

 hind femora not extending to apex of abdomen ; tarsi rather 

 narrow. Length, 8 J mm. 



Hab. — Queensland: Cairns (H. Hacker). 



An aberrant member of the lltliodermus group. The 

 apical fovea of the first abdominal segment, although common 

 to the two basal segments, is round instead of sulcate, as in 

 rubeter and sulciventris; the two subbasal foveae might be 

 regarded as an interrupted groove. In addition to the pale 

 scales, already noted on the elytra, there are a few clusters of 

 similar scales scattered about ; there are also some reddish- 

 ochreous ones at the sides, where the prothorax and elytra 

 touch. The punctures along the suture are unusually large 

 and distant, so that, counting from the base, the fifth is at the 

 summit of the posterior declivity. The femora each have a 

 short submedian ridge, but the ridges are not angular or 

 m2 



