354 NEW SPECIES OF CARABIDEOUS INSECTS. 



Art. IX. — Descriptions of some new species of Carahideous In- 

 sects, from the collection made by C, Darwin, Esq., in the South- 

 ern parts of S. America, By G. R. Waterhouse, Esq., Curator 

 and Assistant Secretary to the Zoological Society. 



The insects I am about to describe belong to that great group 

 of Carahidm to which Dejean applies the name Feroniens, 

 and to a section of that group, the species of which are dis- 

 tinguished by there being a kind of peduncle separating the 

 thorax from the body, — giving to them a superficial resem- 

 blance to the Scaritidce. This constricted portion between 

 the thorax and abdomen is formed above by a produced por- 

 tion of the elytra, which become suddenly narrow in front, 

 and form, together with a portion of the mesothorax, a cylin- 

 drical neck, which apparently serves to give greater freedom 

 of motion to the fore part of the insect. Broscus cephalotes 

 affords an example of this group in which Miscodera, Sto- 

 fnis, Cnemacanthus ^ of Gray (which is the Promecoderus of 

 Dejean), and Baripus, may also be included. These insects 

 are most of them remarkable for the convex form of the tho- 

 rax and elytra, the want of produced posterior angles to the 

 latter, which is usually almost destitute of posterior fovece, 

 and dilated lateral margins — the dorsal channel moreover is 

 generally very indistinct. In these respects the present group 

 of insects affords a strong contrast to the more typical Fero- 

 ni(B, if we may regard the species belonging to the genera 

 Pterostichus and Omaseus as such. 



In addition to the several genera (allied as it appears to me 

 to Broscus) already mentioned, we are indebted to Mr. Cur- 

 tis for the knowledge of three others possessing the same 

 essential characters. I allude to the genera Odontoscelis, 

 Cardiophthalmus and Cascellius, published by Mr. Curtis in 

 the Linnean Transactions.* 



The genus Odontoscelis, Curtis, is founded upon an insect 

 brought by Capt. King from Valparaiso, — an insect which 

 I have observed in many of our collections. In the ' Histoire 

 Naturelle des Insectes' by MM. Audouin and Brulle^, a se- 

 cond species of the same genus is described and figured as an 



* Cnemacanthus gibbosus of Gray appears to me the same as the Prome- 

 coderus brunnieornis of Dejean, which is from Van Dieman's Land, and 

 perhaps some other parts of Australasia, and not from Africa as has been 

 stated. The genus Cnemacanthus of Guerin and Brulle being synonymous 

 with Mr. Curtis' genus Odontoscelis, the species of which are from South 

 America, must not be confounded with Cnemacanthus of Gray. 

 2 Vol. xviii. part. 2. 

 3 Tome iv. bis 2nd part, page 376, plate 15, fig. 4. 



