18 



its point of union a projection or short process is directed ui)wards ; 

 the keel of the sternum is here very ample. These are hirds not so 

 much of rapid as of untiring powers of flight, which, uniike that of 

 the impetuous Falcon, is sweeping and raajestic. In the Falconida 

 the os furcatum, though verj' strong, does not at all approach to the 

 form of a triangle, as in the birds alluded to, but describes a figure 

 not unlike that of a horse-shoe, and a considerable space intervenes 

 between it and the keel of the sternum." 



A Paper was read, entitled, " Characters and Descriptions of a 

 new Genus of the Family Melolonthida : by John Curtis, Esq., 

 F.L.S., &c." 



In a coUection of Insects recently received by the author from 

 Lima is contained a beautiful senes of the one constituting the tj'pe 

 of his proposed new genus 



Ancistrosoma. 



Antenna capite breviores. 



Clypeus, in mare prsesertim, emarginatus. 



Thorax acutė marginatus, hexagonus ; dente brevi in baseos medio 

 armatus. 



Pedes longissimi, robusti. 



The stoutness of its legs and the sharp lateral edges of its thorax 

 distinguish ^«c?s/rosoH?a from all the neighbouring genera: the malė 

 is further characterized by an aeute, rather long, and slightly curved 

 spine near the base of the airfomen beneath. Its natūrai situation is pro- 

 bablj' bet\veen Diphucephala, Dej., the malęs of M'hich have abilobed 

 clypeus, and Macrodactylus , Latr., which is very similar to it in habit, 

 and has also very long legs ; but these in Macrodactylus are slender, 

 w'hile in Ancistrosoma they are robust. Neither Diphucephala nor 

 Macrodactylus possesses the little tooth at the base of the thorax lap- 

 ping over the scutellum, a structure which is, however, met \vith in 

 Ceraspis as W'ell as in Ancistrosoma ; but in Ceraspis, independently 

 of the other difFerential characters, the antennce and club are long. 



Ancistrosoma Klugii. Ane. ferrugineum, supra piceo-nigrum ; 

 thoracis margine elytrorumąue strigis sex albidis. 



Long. maris 12 lin. ; fceminae plerumque minor. 



Hab. in Mimosa floribus apud Huanuco prope Lima, Peruviae. 



Of the three streaks on each of the elytra, the sutural one does not 

 reach so far as the base, the second extends neither to the base nor 

 to the tip, and the outer one is still shorter : they consist of broad 

 punetured furroAvs, white with short hairs. 



The cocoon of the pupa is ovate, hajd, and in texture somewhat 

 likę that of Trichiosoma Lucorum, Leach ; its operculum is semiorbi- 

 cular, with a broad hinge and narrow rim : the shell of the pupa is 

 similar to that of other Melolonthidce. 



Mr. Curtis describes in great detail the several parts of this In- 



