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XV. Descriptions, 8^c. of the Insects collected hij Captain P. P. King, R.\., 

 F.R.S., in the Survey of the Straits of Magellan. By John Curtis, Esq., 

 F.L.S. ; A. H. Haliday, Esq., M.A. ; and Francis Walker, Esq., F.L.S. 



Read December 2nd, 1834; and May 5th, 1835. 



[Captain king having placed in my hands his South American insects, 

 in order that such as were new might be described, I have the honour of laying 

 before the Linnjean Society the results of the investigation, in which I have 

 been assisted by tiie gentlemen whose names are mentioned above as having 

 kindly cooperated with me in the undertaking. 



The collection was formed along the coast from St. Paul's in Brazil to 

 Valparaiso. The splendid objects of natural history that have been found 

 from time to time in Brazil and sent to Europe render it less easy to detect 

 novelties in that country ; but those from the opposite coast of Chili are less 

 known, and I have never seen any collection from the extreme south of the 

 New World excepting the present one. It is curious and interesting to trace 

 the similarity that exists in many instances between the corresponding paral- 

 lels of the southern and northern hemispheres, and in others to observe the 

 analogues which take the place of absent types. Throughout the whole of 

 South America, for example, the genus Carabus appears to be unknown, ex- 

 cepting about latitude 50, where a species of that group with a narrow thorax 

 has been found : the genus Culex also occurs ; and many others might be no- 

 ticed that not only approach, but are identical with, the typical forms of North 

 America and of Europe. It may further be generally observed that the insects 

 under consideration bear little resemblance to those from the Cape of Good 

 Hope and the southern parts of Africa : and at the same time it may not be 

 irrelevant to add, that I have been greatly surprised at the near approach 

 made by many East Indian species to those of Europe, and even of England ; 

 and from the few I have had an opportunity of seeing, this remark may be 

 applied also to some of those from Van Diemen's Land. — J. Curtis.^ 



VOL. XVII. 2 T 



