180 



Diaphonia euclensis, Blackb. 

 PI. x., fig. 85; pi. xii., figs. 137, 138, 139; pi. xiii., fig. 140. 



In structure this species is extremely close to parryi r 

 but the hind tarsi of the male are distinctly shorter, so that 

 if males of the same lengths are placed side by side the fifth 

 joint of the hind tarsus of euclensis scarcely passes the base 

 of the fifth joint of parry "i. The hind tarsi of the females, 

 however, are much alike. But I have seen no specimen of 

 parryi in which the prothorax was not either entirely black, 

 or with the pale markings disconnected ; and of euclensis in 

 which the discal marking was not completely isolated from the 

 sides. On one specimen, however (a small male from Black- 

 burn's collection, labelled, with a query, as nigriceps), there 

 are some vague infuscations connecting in several places the 

 discal blotch with the base (fig. 85). This specimen also has the 

 scutellum partly dark and a vague cloud on each side of same. A 

 female (fig. 138) in the National Museum, Melbourne, labelled 

 with a query as from Queensland (almost certainly it is not 

 from that State), has the outlines of the prothorax somewhat 

 different to those of normal specimens, and with two com- 

 paratively small dark spots on the disc. Its scutellum is 

 narrowly margined with black, and has a blackish line from 

 the base to beyond the middle. 



It is not always easy to distinguish females of it from 

 females of mniszechii, but the male has the abdomen less 

 protuberant at the sides, and the excavation on the lower- 

 surface considerably smaller, although still large; the tarsi 

 are also somewhat shorter. # 



Diaphonia dorsalis, Don. 



PI. xi., figs. 95 to 99. 



This species varies in length from 20 to 29 mm. The 

 median black mark of the prothorax occupies from one-third 

 the width to about three-fourths, in the latter case leaving 

 only a narrow yellowish margin on each side; the yellow por- 

 tion with, or without, a small dark spot slightly in advance 

 of the middle. On the elytra the black sutural mark may 

 be narrow and scarcely extended beyond the subsutural stria, 

 or extended to about the middle ; towards the apex, however, 

 it is suddenly narrowed. The spot on each shoulder varies 

 in size and from deep-black to faintly infuscate. The pygidium 

 varies from pale, except for very narrow black margins and 

 a short medio-basal spot, to more than half black, with the 

 medio-basal spot continued to the apex, so as to divide the 

 pale portion into two transverse spots. The antennae are 

 much larger in the male than in the female. 



