249 



abdomen with a wide and deep excavation, its middle dis- 

 tinctly encroaching upon the convex median portion; lower- 

 surface with fine oblique striation about base, about middle 

 with two fine oblique lines. Met a. sternum strongly elevated 

 in middle, at summit of elevation with two strong, acute, 

 oblique, slightly diverging spines. Legs comparatively long 

 and thin; front tibiae with a small spine (invisible from 

 most directions) near apex ; middle tibiae with a short 

 terminal spur. Length, lj-lf mm. 



9 . Differs in being wider posteriorly, abdomen evenly 

 convex on under-surface, metasternum gently convex along 

 middle and unarmed, and the tibiae unarmed. 



Hah. — Lord Howe Island: Mounts Gower and Ledgbird. 

 Type, I. 8535. 



The armature of the metasternum of the male is excep- 

 tionally strong and double, this character alone rendering 

 the species abundantly distinct from all others ; of the 

 described species it is nearer to hipartitus than to any other 

 known to me, but it is larger, abdomen, metasternum, and 

 ♦legs different ; the antennae are intermediate in shape 

 between those of bipartittis and cylindricornis. The antennae 

 from some directions appear to be gently curved throughout, 

 the granules are more conspicuous about their middle than 

 elsewhere. The excavation on the upper-surface of the 

 abdomen, when viewed from behind, appears to have a wide 

 flat oblique process (triangularly notched at its tip) semi- 

 detached from the middle of each elytron, the space between 

 the processes deeper than elsewhere ; from other directions 

 there appear to be four semi-detached processes ; the oblique 

 lines on the under-surface of the abdomen appear to mark 

 the sides of a shallow depression, they are present on both 

 sexes, but more conspicuous on the male. The male has a 

 short stout projection from the mouth ; on the female it is 

 present, but shorter and less conspicuous. 



I had examined numerous nests of ants on the island 

 without finding an inquiline of any sort, and had given up 

 examining their nests when Mrs. Lea, on the slopes of Mount 

 Ledgbird, found some specimens of this species in a nest of a 

 small, blackish, hairy Iridomyrmex, under a stone ; subse- 

 quently I also took a few specimens in a nest of the same 

 species of ant under dry bark of a fallen tree, high up on 

 Mount Gower. 



Articerus intercoxalis, n. sp. 



C? . Keddish-castaneous ; upper-surface, except of ab- 

 domen, not very shining. Clothed with rather sparse, pale, 

 depressed pubescence, more golden and conspicuous on apical 



