378 



t 



the basal segment of the abdomen there are some large round 

 ones ; the apical segment is shallowly bifoveate and apparently 

 densely punctured. The type is probably a male, and to the 

 naked eye appears to be of a rusty-red colour. 



Decilaus inconstans, n. sp. 



d . Black ; legs (and sometimes the elytra) obscurely 

 diluted with red ; antennae and tarsi of a rather bright-red. 

 Densely clothed with stout sooty scales, but more or less con- 

 spicuously variegated with paler ones. 



Head with crowded partially-concealed punctures. Ros- 

 trum short, stout, base wide, and distinctly notched on each 

 side ; with large punctures in irregular series behind antennae, 

 crowded in front of same. Scape short and stout, inserted 

 almost in exact middle of rostrum, scarcely longer than two 

 following joints combined ; these subequal in length, but the 

 first wider than the second. Froth orax moderately transverse, 

 sides strongly rounded ; with dense, round, partially-concealed 

 punctures ; with a short, feeble, median carina. Elytra with 

 sides moderately rounded, base trisinuate and distinctly 

 (although not by much) wider than prothorax ; with rows of 

 rather large punctures. Mesosternal receptacle elevated and 

 almost truncate in front. Abdomen with dense and fairly 

 large but more or less concealed punctures. Legs stout ; femora 

 feebly grooved ; tarsi rather narrow, but third joint deeply 

 bilobed. Length, 4|-5 mm. 



9 . Differs in having the rostrum slightly longer and 

 thinner, scape inserted near base of rostrum, and abdomen with 

 basal segment flat instead of gently concave. The prothorax is 

 also slightly longer in proportion. 



Hab. — Victoria: Geelong (H. AV. Davey) ; South Aus- 

 tralia: Edithburgh and Port Lincoln (H. H. D. Griffith). 



Allied to perditus, and the rostrum similarly notched at 

 base, but prothoracic scales nearly all thinner and not con- 

 fined to their containing punctures ; abdomen of male more 

 concave, and of female less convex. The punctures are also 

 different. The scales on the elytra are mostly sooty, but are 

 sometimes largely mixed with dingy-brown ones, and usually 

 Math a few pale (almost white) ones. On the prothorax the 

 scales are larger than on the elytra, and the sooty ones are less 

 predominant. On one specimen some of the pale prothoracic 

 scales are white and others are almost carmine, especially at 

 the base. On this specimen also the majority of the scales 

 on the under-surface and legs are of a rather bright 

 brick-red, but on most of the specimens the scales 

 there are of a more or less pale-brown. The prothoracic 

 punctures at first appear to be of rather small size for 



