153 



subtus nigra, vix aurata, vix pubescens ; antennis (clava 

 excepta) pedibusque (femorum basi excepta) rufis ; capite 

 pronotoque confertim aspere punctulatis ; elytris vix 

 striatis, grossissime seriatim punctulatis ; sternis fere ut 

 pronotum, abdomine subtiliter, punctulatis. Long., 1-^ 1.; 

 lat., £ 1. 

 The metallic glow on this species — though quite unmistakeable 

 — is by no means brilliant ; it is of an evidently coppery tone on 

 the front part of the pronotum, but very little noticeable on the 

 rest of that segment, and on the elytra is brassy. On the example 

 before me (which I took myself and am confident is not materially 

 injured by abrasion) the whitish pubescence is thinly and 

 vaguely dispersed on the head and pronotum with very little 

 tendency to be condensed anywhere, while it clothes the scutellum 

 densely, and on the elytra forms a wide ill-defined lateral margin 

 and some not very conspicuous dorsal blotches which range them- 

 selves somewhat in the form of two very arcuately transverse 

 rows (their convexity directed forward), one behind the other in 

 front of the middle. 



Tasmania ; Lake district. 



BASITROPIS. 



The Australian species of this genus appear to be entirely 

 Northern in distribution and rare (as regards individual speci- 

 mens) but probably numerous. I have before me six specimens 

 which represent at least four and possibly six species. In five of 

 T them the markings of the upper surface are extremely similar 

 while in one they are entirely different from those of the five. 

 Three species have been described from Australia. In one of 

 them (solitaries, Pasc) the alternate interstices of the elytra are 

 said to be " raised," which is not the case in any of the specimens 

 before me. The descriptions of the other two are so meagre as 

 to be almost useless. However one of my specimens agrees with 

 the description (such as it is) of B. ingrata, Pasc, and may 

 possibly be that insect, — but I cannot regard any of them as 

 reconcilable with the description of B. peregrina, Pasc, which is 

 represented as having "an obscure yellowish-grey band near the 

 apex," consisting of pubescence, and being long., 3 1. The speci- 

 mens before me (except that already mentioned as B. ingrata ?) 

 are all decidedly larger and have two bands of pale-coloured 

 pubescence neither of which is at all " obscure." I must con- 

 sider therefore that I have not seen B. peregrina or B. solitaria. 



In respect of its generic characters the diagnoses of Basitropis 

 are very incomplete, owing to the want of detail as to sexual 

 characters. Jekel (the author of the genus) does not refer to 

 them, but his description and figure do not altogether agree with 



