6 



HARRIS TO HENTZ. 



November 28, 1825. 



Your letter afforded me great satisfaction, and the box which 

 was received soon afterward furnished me with another proof 

 of your kind remembrance. 



I have carefully examined the insects you sent me, several 

 of which have not occurred in this place, and which, therefore, 

 are very interesting to me ; particularly your two species of 

 Chremastoclieilus ; one of which, as I before observed to you, is 

 assuredly the 0. castanece of Knoch (not castaneus, as it is fre- 

 quently written) ; the other, I am inclined to think with you, 

 is a distinct species. It would be worth while to distinguish 

 the sexes of these species, which would probably be determined 

 by an examination of the antennas ; the laminae of the club are 

 longer and larger in the males of most Scarabcei. Your new 



Z3 O 



species you have named piger, I suppose from its dull and slug- 

 gish habits. I wish you would furnish an account of these two 

 species for the Boston Journal of Philosophy, with reference to 

 the authors who have described the castanece. Some remarks on 

 this insect are to be found in Latreille's work, which makes a 

 part of Sonnini's Buffon ; and also in Cuvier's Regne Animal. 

 Saperda canadensis Oliv., is new to me, as is also the insect you 

 have marked Rhynchcenus proboscideus ; but which cannot be 

 the proboscideus of Fabricius, his insect having the rostrum 

 twice the length of the body ; it seems nearer allied to R. nucum 

 Fabr. Your large Prionus is certainly the brevicornis of Fabri- 

 cius ; it is a female. The smaller one is a male, and probably 

 of the same species. I have four females which vary in size, 

 the smallest being not much larger than the male you sent me, 

 which is the only one I have seen. Of Helops micans I for- 

 tunately obtained last summer an individual (though inferior to 

 yours in beauty) in the tan or debris beneath the bark of a 

 decayed tree, where also I discovered two specimens of the 

 large smooth Tenebrio. Of this latter insect I could find no 



