334 



It should perhaps be regarded as an extreme form of the 

 Variety A. 



Variety D. A specimen from Northern Queensland 

 (Blackburn's collection) has the scales on the upper-surface 

 mostly of a silvery-white, with a slight coppery gloss. 

 Apparently there are no sooty scales present, but the pale 

 scales are less numerous than on the typical form. At the 

 summit of the posterior declivity there is a nude space on 

 each side, causing an appearance as of two distinct black 

 spots. A specimen on the same card has the elytral spots 

 much less conspicuous, and the scales on the upper-surface 

 mostly coppery-green, and on the lower surface greenish-blue. 

 These specimens have a strong superficial resemblance to 

 Micraonychus rufimanus of the Cryptorhynchides . 



Variety E. Two specimens from Lucindale (South Aus- 

 tralia) are densely clothed on the body and legs with silvery- 

 white scales, with a few faintly golden ones scattered about. 

 There are no sooty scales on the elytra, but portion of the 

 suture is glabrous. 



Variety F. Numerous specimens from Mount Tam- 

 bourine (Queensland) may be provisionally treated as a 

 variety. They are unusually small (1^-1^ mm.), and entirely 

 without sooty scales. The clothing on the upper-surface 

 varies from an opaque-blue to coppery-green, or golden, and 

 is denser on the suture (except about base, which is almost 

 or quite glabrous) than elsewhere. 



Misophrice vicina, Lea. 



This species has recently been taken at Mittagong, in 

 New South Wales, thus extending its range from Tasmania 

 to the mainland. A specimen from Sydney also appears to 

 belong to the species, but has the elytral spots scarcely 

 traceable. 



Misophrice variabilis, Blackb. 

 This is the most variable species of the genus, specimens 

 differing in size, colour, and clothing to a remarkable degree. 

 The male is usually smaller and darker than the female. 

 Some males have the under-surface entirely dark, and the 

 elytra dark, with two ill-defined stripes on each side, where 

 the derm is obscurely diluted with red. The prothorax is 

 sometimes entirely black in the male, but it is usually more 

 or less obscurely diluted with red. In the female it is fre- 

 quently black at the apex only. On each elytron the tip 

 of the fifth interstice (immediately behind which the fourth 

 and sixth meet) is always dark, sometimes just perceptibly 

 darker than the adjacent parts, but frequently the dark part 



