168 



blotch varies from entire and more or less subtriangular im 

 shape, to somewhat M- (or reversed W-) shaped, with the 

 parts sometimes disconnected. The scutellum varies from pale 

 with very narrow black margins to entirely black. The- 

 abdomen is sometimes of a very dark red without side spots, 

 but is usually black, with conspicuous flavous spots at the 

 sides. The pygidium is immaculate, or with a conspicuous; 

 somewhat elongated black spot on each side (on some speci- 

 mens the spot on each side is not black, but has a vague 

 watery appearance, although of the usual shape, size, and 

 position). On two females the lateral spots are absent, but 

 there is a minute black spot on each side of a faint medio- 

 basal extension. The femora and tibiae are usually pale with 

 dark tips; but the tibiae are sometimes entirely dark. 



A female in the National Museum, Melbourne, has the elytra 

 (except for the sutural marking) entirely of a deep chestnut-red. 

 Another female (fig. 71) in that Museum has the prothoracic 

 blotch connected along the middle with the base, each 

 shoulder and the subapical callosities black ; the sterna (except 

 for a minute spot on each side of the mesosternum), abdomen, 

 and pygidium black (the latter with the conspicuous subapical 

 carina of the females of the species), and the legs black except 

 for a narrow border in front of the hind femora, and the- 

 lateral margins of the hind coxae. The clypeus has a pale 

 spot on each side, with a minute black spot in the middle of 

 each. A male, in the same Museum, has a vague dark cloud 

 on the suture from just beyond the middle to near the 

 apex. Another male, in the same Museum, was labelled 

 Chondropyga notabilis and as from Western Australia. But 

 the locality and identification are almost certainly incorrect^ 

 It differs in many respects from the description of notabilis- 

 On its prothorax there is a well-defined M (fig. 128). 



Ablacopus, sp. 

 PL xiii., fig. 157. 



There are three specimens before me that I hesitate to 

 associate with either tceniatus or trapezifer, although they pro- 

 bably belong to the latter species. They all have the inter- 

 coxal process of the mesosternum decidedly wider than is usual 

 in those species. Fig. 131 will give a general idea of the- 

 prothoracic blotch, which is very similar on all three. 



A male (17 mm.) from Cairns, from Mr. Cox's collection,, 

 has the front tibiae tridentate, as on the female of tra r pezifer r . 

 the middle femora moderately fringed behind and feebly in 

 front, the legs dark-red, with tibiae darker than femora, and 

 the tarsi black. Its pygidium has the usual two black spots. 



A female (19 mm.) in the National Museum, Melbourne^ 



