[Illustration: =Fig. 79.=--_Helaeus subserratus_ (Blackburn). The Tortoise Beetle. (“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)] _Helaeus subserratus_, from Western Australia, is typical of a very curious group not only wingless, but having the elytra and abdominal segments soldered together into a broad flattened box with a wide thin flange running right round, continued round the thorax, and overlapping in front of the head, which latter is turned down and is thus situated in a regular frame; this one is dark brown, with the outer flange lighter coloured; it measures 1⅓ inches in length, and is broad and rounded in form. These beetles are usually found in the driest parts of the interior, where they live under stones or logs among the dust, and in spite of their size, remain so motionless that they can be very easily overlooked. _Saragus floccosus_, found on tree trunks in the north of N.S.W., is a smaller tortoise-shaped insect, under ¾ of an inch; is convex and keeled down the centre of the thorax; and the elytra have a more narrow flange running right round but curving in and rounded on either side of the head. When alive, it has the whole of the upper surface covered with loose flocculent matter like soft sawdust, evidently as a protective covering, but this is easily brushed off when dead. _Hypaulax tenuistriata_ is one of the common large black beetles found under dead bark; it measures about 1 inch in length; the head is small, projecting; the thorax broad, rounded, shining; and the broad wing covers are distinctly ribbed with punctured striae. _Chartopteryx childreni_ is one of our most remarkable and rare species; it is 1 inch long; the only specimen I have seen alive, I caught alighting on a tree trunk at Mosman, near Sydney; it is elongate, broad, oval in form, with the head and thorax turned down, and the convex, shining, black elytra deeply punctured and clothed with dull yellow moss-like material; the head and thorax are ornamented with fine white hairs, forming an elongated mark on either side of the latter and two parallel lines down the centre of the head and thorax. _Blepegenes aruspex_ is a shining coppery black coloured beetle measuring ¾ of an inch; it is slender in form, remarkably like a carab, with a small thorax that is produced into a spine on either side; the elytra are deeply ribbed; it is found under logs in the Illawarra district, N.S.W.