173 



Further Notes on Australian Coleoptera with 



Descriptions of new Genera and Species. 



No. XLl. 



By the Rev. Canon Blackbukn, B.A. 



[Read October 12, 1911.] 



COPRIDES. 



COPTODACTYLA. 



In Deutsch. Ent. Zeitschr. (1909) Herr Felsche expressed 

 the opinion that my G '. Baileyi and ducalis are females of G . 

 glabricollis, Hope. They are, however, perfectly distinct 

 species. As regards G . Baileyi, Herr Felsche says, ' 'Charac- 

 ters distinctive from glabricollis are 'tibiis anticis brevibus, 

 apice acuminatis, externe inermibus.' This sculpture is such 

 for a Coprid that one can safely assume the author has had 

 before him a specimen of G. glabricollis with worn tibiae." 

 In describing the characters that distinguish one species from 

 another it is, I take it, usual that the author mentions first 

 the character which he regards as the important one. A 

 reference to my note (Proc. Linn. Soc, N.S.W., 1889, p. 

 1251) pointing out the distinctive characters of G . Baileyi will 

 show that it commences thus : (G . Baileyi is) ' 'different from 

 it (i.e., G. glabricollis) in the clypeus being evenly rounded 

 in front without any emargination whatever." It is quite 

 true that I proceeded to refer to the tibiae as being without 

 teeth, and that Herr Felsche's opinion that that is not a 

 valid specific character is no doubt correct. Subsequent study 

 of Lamellicorn Coleoptera led me to the conclusion Herr 

 Felsche indicates, and in fact I have myself long ago expressed 

 it (e.g., Trans. Roy. Soc, S.A., 1904, pp. 286 and 287), viz., 

 that difference in the external form of tibiae "may be due 

 to some attrition to which the parts in question have been 

 exposed." I have before me a long series of both sexes of 

 G . glabricollis, Hope, from numerous places in Northern Aus- 

 tralia, and have no hesitation in saying that the clypeal char- 

 acter I referred to as distinctive is perfectly reliable. How- 

 ever, I will now add that in C . Baileyi the clypeus is very 

 much shorter than in glabricollis (its lateral outline running 

 out a much less distance from the hind level of the eyes and 

 being much less oblique, so that the widest part of the head 

 is considerably narrower than the front margin of the pro- 

 thorax). The strigose sculpture of the head does not occupy 



