of the Amazon Valley. 441 



ness of the antennae, which in the males are not much 

 longer than the body, and in both sexes are furnished 

 with the peculiar long soft hairs on the underside of many 

 of the joints. The character derived from the apex of 

 the elytra, spineless in Gametes, and spined in Dlstenia, 

 is rendered inapplicable by the discovery of species of 

 Distenia (e. g., D. viridi-cyanea, Thorns.) which have the 

 elytra obtusely truncate, precisely as in certain species of 

 Cometes. The great and abrupt variations in the form of 

 the terminal joint of the maxillary palpi in the Disteniince 

 are mentioned by Lacordaire as aSbrding no generic 

 distinction; he admitted, however, the genus Hderopal- 

 pns, which is founded on an extraordinary development 

 of these organs in the males of certain Cometes, in which 

 they are excessively elongate, and exhibit, proceeding 

 from the base of the terminal joint, almost at right angles 

 to it, an elongate hairy filament, as long as the joint of 

 the palpus itself. This curious structure might be taken 

 to be a monstrosity, did it not appear, in dift'erent form 

 as to points of detail, in three distinct species. It can- 

 not, however, be a generic distinction, for it occurs in 

 the males of Cometes acutipennis (Buquet) a species 

 having the .closest possible affinity with others (e. g., C. 

 Icetijicus) in which the palpi are of normal form. 



1. Cometes Icetijicus, n. sp. 



C. acutipenni proximo affinis, differt elytris apice magis 

 obtusis, macula fulva humerali postice rotundata, suturam 

 haud attingente, capite angustiori, etc. Cyaneus, nitidus, 

 elytris Itete purpureis, vitta lata discoidali cserulea, 

 maculaque rotundata fulva hum ei'ali; antennis nigris, ( S ) 

 usque ad apicem longe penicillatis ; capite angusto ; 

 oculis haud prominentibus ; thorace spina latex'ali obtusa ; 

 elytris crebre grosse punctatis, disco unicostatis, apice 

 breviter obtuse truncatis. 



Long. 5 lin. (^ , 



Eab. — Eara. 



2. Cometes scapularis, n. sp. 



E/Obustior, viridi-cyaneus, nitidus, elytris macula hume- 

 rali sanguinea, femoribus dimidio basali flavo-testaceis ; 



