_ 
“J 
o 
March 11, 1851. 
J. E. Gray, Esq., F.R.S., in the Chair. 
The following papers were read :— 
1, A Few worps on THE Synonymy oF DisTICHOCERA, A GENUS 
or Loneicorn CoLeopreRA From New Ho.uanp, wIitH 
CHARACTERS OF THREE SPECIES SUPPOSED TO BE UNDE- 
SCRIBED. By Epwarp Newman, F.L.S. erc. 
(Annulosa, Pl. XX.) 
Among the invaluable labours of the late Mr. Kirby, none are more 
useful to the general entomologist than his lucid and masterly de- 
scriptions of new and remarkable forms of exotic Coleoptera ; and of 
these, none afford to myself so much instruction and pleasure as that 
entitled ‘A Description of several New Insects collected in New 
Holland by Robert Brown, Esq.,” and published in the twelfth vo- 
lume of the ‘Linnean Transactions.’ In this admirable paper is the 
first description I can find of the extraordinary genus Distichocera, 
although, as Mr. Kirby himself informs us, it was known long pre- 
viously under the same name, and although he himself gives it as 
“Distichocera of MacLeay,” a name which I am inclined to conclude 
existed in manuscript only. Concerning the genus in question I lay 
no claim to any additional knowledge of the structure, habits or affi- 
nities of the insect described by Mr. Kirby; but the labours of col- 
lectors, amid the seemingly inexhaustible riches of our Australian 
colonies, have placed within my reach a greater number and greater 
variety of specimens. Mr. Kirby has only made us acquainted with 
a single species, and a single sex of that species. Mr. MacLeay has 
added a second, which has also been described by Guérin, Boisduval 
and myself under a variety of names. Three other forms of the 
genus have occurred to me, making the number five in all. Of these, 
three are certainly females, and two as certainly males. The object 
of this communication is to express my views as to associating the 
sexes, and to make known two supposed species which were pre- 
viously uncharacterized. 
Genus Disticuocera, MacLeay (MSS.’). 
Distichocera, Kirby, Trans. Linn. Soe. xii. 471. 
‘‘Labrum transversum, tetragonum. Labium membranaceum apice 
bilobum : lobis divaricatis. Mandibule trigonze, edentule apice 
incurvee acute. Maxillee basi trigonze, apertee. Palpi filiformes. 
Mentum transversum, trapeziforme. Antennze sensim crassiores, 
disticho-ramose.”’—Kirby, 1. ec. 
1. DisriIcHOCERA MACULICOLLIS. 
Mas. Distichocera maculicollis, Kirby, 1. c. 
Distichocera maculicollis, Audinet Serville, Ann. Ent. Soc. Fr. iii. 59. 
