232 DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES OF LAMIA. 



Antenna corpore longiores articulis pedibusque anticis scabris. 



Caput postice annulo albido variegatum. Thorax utrinque spinosus 

 rugisque transversis notatus. Scutellum albovillosum postice rotunda- 

 tum. Elytra nigro-cinerea basi scabra, seu melius tuberculis, parvis, ni- 

 tidis, parum elevatis. Apex in medio spinosus. Disco maculis cretaceis 

 variegato. Corpus infra nigro-cinereum, femoribus anticis tibiisque as- 

 peris. Plantis fuscis et spongiosis. 



This magnificent insect was sent me by my friend Captain 

 Roe, from the new settlement at Swan River, in Australia. — 

 It is named in honour of M. Bois Duval, the author of the 

 6 Voyage de Decouverte de 1' Astrolabe.' The above indivi- 

 dual is justly considered one of the leading lepidopterists of 

 Europe. I have mentioned that the Baron De Jean gives 

 the name of Batocera to true Lamia ; but six species are re- 

 corded in his last Catalogue, and all of them but one are de- 

 signated as inhabiting the East Indies : the species alluded 

 to is Lamia Rubus, Fabr., from the Island of Mauritius. The 

 true Rubus of Fabricius, however, inhabits the East Indies, 

 the Rubus from the Isle of France appears distinct, and is, I 

 believe, as yet undescribed. Lamia according to my views 

 is only found in Africa and Asia, and some of the adjacent 

 isles ; three species from the former continent have fallen un- 

 der my notice, and about twenty from the latter, besides the 

 species above described. The most magnificent of them all 

 is Lamia Roy Hi from the Himalaya. According to Mr. W. 

 W. Saunders, the perfect insect feeds on the blossoms of the 

 pepal-tree (Ficus religiosa). In the interminable woods of 

 Travancore, these insects abound ; and from their excessive 

 numbers and the effects they produce by perforating the trunks 

 of large and gigantic trees, they act as useful pioneers, tend- 

 ing to clear the ground, and thin the exuberant vegetation 

 which there abounds, Some of the native tribes of India in 

 the vicinity of Travancore, and in the island of Ceylon, feed 

 on the larvae of Lamiadce, as is the case in Africa with Lamia 

 gigas, now denominated Omacantha by M. Serville. Col. 

 Whithill has iu his superb collection many of the larva of 

 Lamia admirably preserved. It is a subject of regret among 

 entomologists, that few collectors preserve insects in their ear- 

 liest stages, in spirits ; when we become better acquainted 

 with them, and have it in our power to give the anatomical 

 details of such gigantic forms as belong to the genera Prio- 

 nus and Lamia, we may naturally expect that much light will 

 be thrown on the sensorial organs of insects, which are at 

 present very imperfectly understood. 



March, 1839. 



