revision of the Lamjiyridce. 3 



One word as to the so-called luminous portions. These 

 parts are patches, or even whole ventral and sometimes 

 dorsal plates, deprived of pigment and hence often white, 

 and vitrified in a peculiar manner, to which I apply the 

 word eburated ; this occurs oftenest Avhen the portion is 

 small, and then it is generally also raised, and seems to 

 bear some analogy to the eburated white marks and fascife, 

 which I have noticed in the elytra of other Coleoptera, e.g.^ 

 in Longicorns and CleridcE. Is it merely a fancy that these 

 raised portions act as lenses for condensing and intensifying 

 the light, and that in some of the other Coleoptera I have 

 mentioned they permit the sun's rays to pass through the 

 elytra and exercise some good effect on the body, while 

 here they serve something like the bull's-eye of a lantern 

 for the dispersal of the rays of light? The spots on the 

 thorax of the luminous elaters of the genus Pyrophorus 

 may serve to illustrate my meaning in the light-giving case ; 

 the lucid points on the elytra of a species of Helota, described 

 by myself ( H. gemmata), that of the light- transmitting case. 

 I do not aspire to a revision of the LampyridcB at present; 

 the material in my hands is not sufficient for that : it con- 

 sists of — 1, my own collections, formed for a few years only, 

 including that of Mr. Norris ; 2, that of the Brussels 

 Museum Avith Guerin's types obligingly entrusted to me 

 by the Curators ; 3, the collection sent and still coming 

 from Mr. Champion, from Guatemala ; 4, typical sj^eci- 

 mens from M. Chevrolat, and a few small collections for 

 which I beg to thank the various lenders. 



I content myself now with merely enumerating the 

 species I have actually identified, and describing those 

 which appear to be new, at the same time indicating where 

 the specimens alluded to are now. The first portion 

 which I lay before you to-night takes the Lucidotides as 

 far as the end of Lucidota, or the genera with pectinate 

 or at least dentate antennse. Thirty species and one genus 

 are described as new. 



List of New Species. 



Lamprocera tristior. 

 „ prajusta. 



„ picta. 



„ brevicoUis. 



Hyas bipunctata. 

 ,, rhomboidea. 

 „ angularis (Chevr.). 

 Cladodes stellata. 



B 2 



Cladodes ventralis. 



„ nigricollis. 



„ plnmosa. 

 PhEenolis genus noimm. 



„ laciniata. 



„ ustulata (Chevr. 



„ ochracea. 

 jEthra despecta. 



