177 



Burmeister mentioned Icetus as perhaps identical with his 

 metrosideri, thus implying that the legs of his specimen are 

 green. I have not seen any species of Stethaspis (except 

 nigrescens ) which agrees in colour with the description of any 

 one of them. The species that I cannot doubt is Eucalypti 

 is, when fresh, of a clear green colour, with the legs light 

 ferruginous, and in many specimens the extreme lateral mar- 

 gins and the apex of the elytra yellow. My unique specimen 

 of the insect that I believe to be S. metrosideri (with which 

 I think Icetus is probably, as Burmeister conjectures, iden- 

 tical) has head, prothorax, scutellum, and legs testaoeo- 

 ferruginous, elytra olivaceous, sterna mostly pale-ferruginous, 

 abdomen coppery. My specimens of piliger, Blanch., have 

 head, prothorax, and scutellum varying from olive-brown to a 

 distinct green, elytra clear green with narrow ferruginous 

 margin, legs and antennas ferruginous. An old, and probably 

 badly-kept, specimen agreeing otherwise with Eucalypti is of 

 a dull pitchy-olive colour, with legs pitchy-ferruginous, and 

 another, probably immature, is pale grass-green. It appears 

 to me, therefore, probable that the colours of the Stethaspides 

 are liable to fade or otherwise change under various circum- 

 stances, and that in respect of most of the species they should 

 be disregarded for purposes of identification. As there is 

 no species (in the genus) of which the type is in Australia I 

 am obliged to rely upon descriptions for the identification 

 of all the species, but fortunately there are descriptions (at 

 least fairly good) of all of them, and I am of opinion that 

 I have them all before me (except laitus, if it is a valid species) 

 and also an undescribed one. Under these circumstances a 

 short note on each of the Stethaspides to set forth the grounds 

 of my identification, in spite of colour discrepancies, seems 

 desirable. Stethaspides (under the name of Xylonychus) 

 bear six specific names in Masters' Catalogue, and I believe 

 they include all the names correctly attributable to Aus- 

 tralian members of the genus. One of these names (Orpheus, 

 Fauv.), however, seems to have found its way into the Cata- 

 logue by mistake, since "New Caledonia" is the habitat its 

 author assigned to it. 



X. Eucalypti, Boisd. The original description is of little 

 value, but nevertheless does not altogether agree with the 

 insect commonly regarded as Eucalypti, inasmuch as it con- 

 tains the phrase "supra hirsutus." Blanchard describes 

 Eucalypti in seven words, " Viridis, elytris olivaceis, pilis 

 niveis majoribus densioribus" (apparently a mere indication 

 of differences from his Icetus). Burmeister says of it "supra 

 glaber," but in the notes following the diagnosis says that 

 there are "Borsten" on the elytra here and there between the 



