185 



Brenske places in the other aggregate. It, therefore, appears 

 to 'me impossible to divide the Australian true Melolonthides 

 into groups distinguished by the length of the 3rd antennal 

 joint without arriving at a result that would be absolutely 

 ludicrous. 



Among the characters which Brenske attributes to his 

 aggregate Leucopholides there is one which, although he does 

 •not definitely state that it distinguishes those species from 

 the Polyphyllides, nevertheless does appear to be of consider- 

 able value in separating the Australian genera of true Melo- 

 lonthides into two aggregates. That character lies in the 

 apical spurs of r the hind tibiae, which in Brenske's group 

 Jjeucopholides are (or at any rate one of them is) greatly 

 •dilated in the females as compared with those of the other 

 sex. Brenske does not characterize the spurs in the Poly- 

 phyllides having, when he reaches that stage in his paper 

 where the spurs come in, already dismissed that aggregate as 

 having the 3rd antennal joint elongate, and mentions only 

 the Rhizotrogides (an aggregate not known to be Australian) 

 as having the spurs alike in the two sexes. But, with some 

 little hesitation, I think that character may serve as im- 

 portant for classifying the Australian genera of Lacordaire's 

 "G-roupe" "true Melolonthides." 



Before explaining my use of the qualification "with 

 some hesitation" it is necessary to refer to another character 

 not mentioned by Brenske in the paper I am discussing, but 

 which my studies of the Australian Melolonthides have led 

 me to consider highly important from the generic point of 

 view, though my knowledge of Melolonthides of other coun- 

 tries than Australia is not sufficient to qualify me for esti- 

 mating its value in respect of other than Australian genera. 

 The character that I refer to is the form and sculpture of 

 the declivous front face of the clypeus. In the species of 

 Khopcea (i.e., of those species which one cannot doubt must 

 be associated more or less closely with R. Verreauxi, Blanch.) 

 the declivous front face of the clypeus is perpendicular or 

 almost so, very high on the vertical line (the distance from 

 base to summit being about equal to the length of the apical 

 joint of a maxillary palpus), somewhat strongly and nar- 

 rowly emarginate in the middle of its lower margin to receive 

 the labrum, and having its whole surface (except a more or 

 less narrow band along the summit) strongly and equally 

 rugulose and set with long soft hairs. In Lepidiota and 

 Lepidoderma the declivous front face of the clypeus is much 

 less high (the distance from base to summit being much 

 less than the length of the apical joint of a maxillary palpus), 

 widely and feebly emarginate on its lower margin, and having 



