310 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF 



The following are results of my analyses : 



I. II. 



Sulphuric acid 48-40 per cent. 48-30 per cent. 



Ammonia 5-37 " 5-10 " 



P^ sh i3 :f\ 46-49 



Soda 1-68/ 



Organic matter trace trace 



98-90 99.89 



Per cent. Oxygen ratio. 



Sulphuric Acid 48-35 28-96 



Ammonia 5-23 1*60' 



Potash andSoda 45 81 7*77 



From which may be deduced the general formula (KO, NHi O) S03. 



| 9-37 



Description of new species of the Coleopterous family Histeridse. 

 BY JOHN LECONTE. 



In the year 1845, when I published a Monograph of the American Histeroid3 

 in the Boston Journal of Natural History, my memoir contained seventy-nine 

 species. There were probably at that time contained in European collections, 

 about two-hundred and fifty species collected from all parts of the world. Since 

 then, the Abbe de Marseulhas published his great work, "Essai monographique 

 sur la famille des Histerides," and furnished accurate descriptions of six hun- 

 dred and twenty species, besides collecting from other writers one hundred 

 and twenty-six more which he has not been able to see. Of these, forty-five 

 species were brought by my son from California. I now add twenty-five 

 species from our own country, from Central America, and from Cuba, with one 

 from Africa, making the whole number at present known to be seven hundred 

 and seventy-two. 



To what sum this may hereafter be increased, it is impossible to say, a great 

 part of California has not yet been explored, and the States of New Mexico and 

 Texas have as yet yielded very few. It is remarkable that among the numerous 

 collections made by different exploring parties, so few of this family of insects 

 have been found. Perhaps they may have found it disagreeable to look for 

 them in the peculiar situations where most of them inhabit. 



I add a few words respecting the name Hister. This word is said to be derived 

 from the Latin Histrio, or Etruscan Histrion, meaning a player, on account of 

 some few of them having red marks on the elytra, or from their feigning death 

 (as a vast number of insects do) when first caught, which derivation appears 

 inappropriate. The Roman poet D. J. Juvenalis in his second satire, verse 41, 

 mentions a filthy fellow of the name of Hister. Linnaeus was fond of alluding 

 to the classic writers of Rome, and finding these insects living in the most 

 filthy conditions, very properly gave this name to animals found in the midst 

 of excrements and putrefaction. 



Hololepta p r i n c e p s . Oblongus, niger, nitidus, capitis lateribus utrinque 

 linea lougitudinali impressis ; mento concavo profunde emarginato ; pronoto 

 linea dorsali a basi ad medium, stria marginali antice profundiore ; elytris 

 striis duabus ad basin, interna minima, externa brevi, fossa lateralis postice 

 attenuata ; propygidio antice ad latera persparse grosse punctato, pygidio sat 

 dense punctato ; epipleuris rugosulis unistriatis ; corpore subtus medio impunc- 

 tato, tibiis anticis et intermedins quadrirdentatis, posticis tridentatis. 



Tejon Pass, California ; John Xantus, Esq. 



Oblong, black, shining, sides of the head with a small longitudinal line 

 impressed on each side ; chin concave, deeply emarginate. Thorax with a 



[Nov. 



