174 



Var. 2. — A specimen (fig. 79) labelled as variabilis by 

 the late Rev. T. Blackburn, evidently belongs to this variety. 

 It is of a deep-red, with the base of the head, two large pro- 

 thoracic spots, the scutellum, and a sutural vitta black ; the 

 vitta is wide at the base and is regularly narrowed till it 

 disappears at the apex. It is a male and has the femora and 

 hind tibiae fringed as noted under var. 3. Three specimens, 

 two of which are from Cairns, are females of this variety, 

 and one (fig. 80) is labelled variabilis by the late Rev. R. L. 

 King, but without locality other than Queensland. They are 

 of a still deeper red than the male, one being so dark that 

 the black prothoracic spots (which on it are of greater size 

 than usual) are very ill-defined. The scutellum is obscurely 

 diluted with red, and the suture is very narrowly black. Two 

 have the pygidium mostly red, but on the other it is black. 

 The elytra are without elevated lines of any kind, except the 

 hind portion of the suture, but they are feebly undulated 

 in places ■ their punctures are also noticeably smaller than on 

 the male, being, in fact, very small. The femora are feebly 

 fringed, but the hind tibiae are almost as densely fringed as 

 in the male. Two other females have the hind tibiae feebly 

 fringed, but otherwise they agree with the two having the 

 pygidium red. 



Var. 3. — Two other specimens evidently belong to this 

 variety. One (fig. 81) bears a label by the late Rev. R. L. 

 King, "Euposcila variabilis, McL., Port Deniston" ( 35 ) ; the 

 other was labelled, "2076, variabilis, Macl.," by the late Rev. 

 T. Blackburn. They are males and have the hind tibiae and 

 femora densely fringed on the lower-surface ; their four 

 front femora are also fringed, but less conspicuously so. The 

 front tibiae have a strong apical tooth and a feeble subapical 

 one. Their legs are mostly red, the tarsi and hind tibiae being 

 black or blackish. The amount of dingy-red at the sides of 

 the prothorax and elytra varies. One has the pygidium black, 

 and the other only partly so. The suture is distinctly elevated 

 posteriorly, but the other longitudinal elevations are very 

 feeble. I have seen no females of this variety. 



Var. 4. — A female (fig. 82) from Northern Queensland, in 

 the National Museum, Melbourne, evidently represents another 

 variety. It is black with the apical half of head, sides and apex 

 of prothorax, elytra (except for a wide sutural vitta), and most 

 of pygidium and of legs of a deep-red. Only its hind tibiae 

 are densely fringed. A specimen, from Kuranda, in Mr. 

 Griffith's collection, is very similar in general appearance, 

 but has the elytra entirely of a deep-red, and the pygidium 

 black but obscurely diluted with red in the middle. 



(35) Port Denison was the type locality. 



