256 



In Blackburn's table reliance was placed on the lateral 

 parts of the prothorax being "very closely (almost con- 

 fluently) punctulate" in creber and "much less closely" in 

 chalceus and indignus. On the cotype of creher the punctures 

 there are certainly somewhat denser than on specimens of 

 the other supposed species, but they are also denser than on 

 a specimen from Ballarat and two from Forest Reefs also 

 identified by him as creber, and on these the punctures both 

 there and elsewhere (including those between the first and 

 second elytral striae) are much as on the specimens of indignus 

 and chalceus; the two latter were distinguished by "Hind 

 angles of prothorax quite distinct, though strongly obtuse" in 

 chalceus, and "quite rounded off" in indignus; on the speci- 

 mens in the Museum I can find no difference whatever in the 

 actual rotundity of the angles when viewed from exactly the 

 same direction; if viewed from different points and with the 

 base closely applied to the elytra or not there appear to be 

 slight differences. The apparent convexity of the prothorax 

 of the various specimens differs also with the point of view, 

 but from the same viewpoint the difference is extremely small, 

 certainly not of more than individual importance. 



Anodontonyx planiceps, Blackb. (formerly Serice'sthis). 

 Sericesthis parvipes, Blackb. 



There are in the Museum the type female, six other 

 specimens labelled as planiceps by Blackburn, and numerous 

 others. These vary in colour from light reddish-castaneous to 

 forms whose prothorax, scutellum, and elytra are almost 

 black; some have only the pronotum blackish, and some have 

 the elytra dark but diluted with red about the shoulders. 

 On some specimens, especially of the large dark ones, the 

 clypeus is conspicuously bilobed in front, and it varies 

 (independently of sex) to almost evenly rounded. The sizes 

 of the elytral punctures are also somewhat variable. 



Of parvipes there is one specimen labelled as a cotype, 

 and I cannot distinguish this structurally from females of 

 planiceps, the character relied upon by Blackburn, "Inter- 

 mediate tarsi very little longer than their tibiae" as against 

 "nearly twice as long" (of planiceps) is, on these specimens, 

 more apparent than real ; on some of them the claws are 

 directed almost at a right angle to the claw joint, on others 

 they appear to continue the line of the claw, and specimens 

 of the latter (especially if males) appear to have much longer 

 tarsi, but to the eye the four basal joints are just perceptibly 

 longer than the tibia in both sexes. 



