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 Avhich, therefore, 

 are very interesting to me ; particularly jour two species of 

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

 assviredly the C, 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 antennae ; the laminas of the club are 

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

 species you have named lyiger^ 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 Latreillc's Avork, which makes a 

 part of Sonnini's Buifon ; and also in Cuvier's Regno Animal. 

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

 have marked Rhynchceniis pj'ohoscldeus ; but which cannot be 

 the prohoscidcus of Fabricius, his insect having the rostrum 

 twice the lenrjth of the hodij ; it seems nearer allied to H. nucum 

 Fabr. Your larece Prionus is certainly the hrevicornis 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, 

 wliich is the only one I have seen. Of Ilelops 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 

 ]ar«;e smooth Tenebrio. Of this latter insect I could lind no 



