254 jNIr. 13. Sharp's Contribiitiuns to ilie 



LiTIIOCnARIS. 



The species of this -vvidely-tlislrihutod genus are no- 

 "vvhere more numerous than in South iVmerica ; thirteen 

 species have ah-eady been described by Erichson from 

 Columbia, so that it is not surprising that I should here 

 describe twenty-two species from the Amazons. Among 

 these twenty-tAvo sjiecies there is sufiicient Aariety in 

 structural })oints to render it probable that some of them 

 will idtimately be refen'ed to new genera. The L. munda 

 bears considerable resemblance in general appearance to a 

 Scopccus, and it is ])robable that this resemblance is indi- 

 cative of a real allinity. The live s})ecies {L. oculato, 

 quadrata, egena, huvdlis and ardua) Avith setose antennje, 

 the two basal joints of Avhich are stout, the others slender, 

 may also ])erhaps form a distinct genus ; indeed, Kraatz 

 has already Ibunded a genus (^Tliinochuris) ibr some 

 Ceylon species possessing this structure of the antennre ; 

 but, as it is doubtful whether the South American species 

 I am alluding to are really congeneric with the I'^astern 

 TJiuiocharis, and as Erichson has already described as 

 members of the genus Lithocharis several Columbian 

 species with similarly-formed antenna?, I have preferred 

 associatino: the ncAv forms here described wdth the cognate 

 forms from a neighbouring locality. 



X. discedens and L. comicxa are distinguished by a 

 peculiarity of structure of the 4th joint of the hind 

 and middle tarsi, and are probably closely related to the 

 Colnmlnan X. hiscriutd, Er. 



The most ])eculiar of the new species I here describe 

 are the four I have placed at the end of the genus, viz., 

 L. polita, (/ermano, pagnna and picta. These four 

 species I anticipate Avill be found to be closely allied to 

 L. inacuhiris and L. cuujularis, Er., from Venezuela and 

 Columliia. ]\Ir. Solskv, Avho has in the Ilor. Soc. Ent. 

 lloss. (v. p. 142, ])1. iv.) described and figured the 

 ii-()l)hi of DucnochiluK hvins, Leconte, has suggested that 

 J'^richson's L. aiu/nldris should be ])laced in that genus; 

 and in the i\Iunich Catalogue this has been done. On 

 com])aring the parts of the mouth of the sjiecies here 

 described with Solskv's fifi-ures, I find them to l)e flir from 

 agreeing therewith ; the labrum in the lour species I 

 describe possesses an acute stout tooth on cither side of 

 the central notch, while in Solsky's figure the lobes are 

 quite destitute of this ; the 3rd joint of the maxillary 



