188 REV. F. W. HOPE'S OBSERVATIONS 



to put a Stop to an evil which can only have the effect of retarding science. Sorry am I 

 to add, that one of our English naturalists follows in the same foreign wake, and it is sin- 

 gular that the same individual agrees in expunging Stenochorus, and yet introduces the 

 novel term of Phoracantha. Now it is my fixed opinion that both Mallocera and Phora- 

 cantha ought to be rejected and the original word substituted. Having decided, on suffi- 

 ciently ample grounds, that Stenochorus should be retained, it remains for me to add the 

 reasons why Stenochorus ought to be admitted to rank as a family. It is remarkable, that 

 out of eleven Longicorn genera mentioned by Fabricius, eight of them must be regarded 

 as evidently belonging to distinct families. The genus Calopus of the same author belongs 

 properly to the Stenelytra, and ought not to be included ; the remaining two, namely 

 Gnoma and Clytus, are worthy of a similar rank, the former affording several forms which 

 are yet unpublished ; and the latter may well be subdivided into the sections proposed 

 by the Count de Castelnau, and might have generic names appropriated to them. It will 

 then appear, from the above brief statement, that all of the genera of Longicorn beetles 

 constituted by Fabricius are thought worthy of ranking as families, with the exception of 

 Calopus, which is evidently out of place : but there are other grounds for retaining Ste- 

 nochorus ; first, some of the ablest entomologists who have ever written on entomology 

 are in favour of the genus. It is sufficient for our present purpose to mention but a few, 

 and I therefore merely give the names of Fabricius, Olivier, MacLeay and Schonherr; 

 the latter writer, indeed, appears to be the first individual who considered Stenochorus 

 in the light of a group, forming three distinct families ; the first being named Ceramby- 

 ciformes, the second Callidiiformes, whilst the last embraces genera of diverse forms. It 

 has been stated, however, by one who wishes to get rid of Stenochorus, that Rhagium is 

 synonymous with it ; he gives, nevertheless, the true type of the genus, and names it 

 semipunctatus of Donovan, an insect originally described by Fabricius or OHvier. The 

 writer probably was not aware that Knoch, in his ' Neue Beytrage zur Insectenkunde,' 

 published at Leipsig in 1801, has published some valuable remarks on the Stenochorus 

 cyaneus. Fab., with anatomical dissertations, distinctly naming the same aRhagium. Now 

 the above work bears the same date as the ' Systema Eleutheratorum' of Fabricius; and 

 'as able writers since that period, coinciding with Knoch, have adopted his views, the 

 question ought not to be raised again. 



The original type being disposed of, it was necessary to fix on another. Monsieur 

 Schonherr chose Stenochorus festivus, Fab. ; Mr. W. S. MacLeay, Boisduval and others 

 consider Stenochorus semipunctatus of Fabricius as the true type ; and Mr. Newman (it 

 may be added) also records the same typical species, although he abandons the Fabri- 

 cian and Servillean names, and substitutes in their place the term of Phoracantha. On 

 the ground of priority the name of Fabricius ought to be retained ; and if that is re- 

 jected, certainly Mallocera ought to take precedence of Phoracantha. 



Having fixed on the typical species, it is now my intention to describe more fully 

 some of the Stenochoridte formerly published in these Transactions ; and as the species 



