Mr. P. H. Gosse on the Insects of Jamaica. 199 



flying in at the open windows, attracted by the candles, crawling 

 in great numbers over the tables, wading through the gravy, or 

 drowning itself in the tea. It is commonly known by the name 

 of Christmas Bug, from its increased abundance at the end of 

 the year. 



18. ? Croesus (Scarabmis Croesus, Newm.). This species 



seems to belong to an undescribed genus, and was previously 

 known by a single specimen in the collection of the British 

 Museum. 



19. Podalgus (sp.). Taken at New Forest, near Alligator 

 Pond, in December. 



20. Chalepus geminatus. Flew into the house at Bluefields in 

 May, attracted by the lights in the evening. 



21. Chalepus (sp. near geminatus). 



22. Macraspis tetradactyla. In May and June this glossy 

 black species of the family Rutelidce is abundant around blossom- 

 ing trees. Both at Sabito and at the Hampstead Road we have 

 observed it so numerous about certain trees as to give notice of 

 its presence some time before we came near by the loud buzzing 

 of the scores that were flying around the summit, while on ap- 

 proach the tree appeared quite blackened by the multitudes that 

 were resting on every twig. On giving the tree a smart blow 

 with a stick, the sudden rush into the air of hundreds of these 

 beetles was really a spectacle worth seeing, and the noise pro- 

 duced by their wings was like that of a swarm of bees. The tree 

 provincially called Potato-wood seems to be the kind chiefly re- 

 sorted to by these assemblages. In May a piece of rotten wood 

 was brought me, in which were many of this species, in the 

 larva, pupa, and recently-evolved imago. 



23. Gymnetis lanius. This is comparatively a scarce insect. 

 A single one is occasionally seen in the spring, buzzing around 

 a flowering bush, in the lowlands. 



24. Passalus interstitialis ? or tlascala ?. Several were found 

 beneath the rotting bark of a fallen tree, on the very summit of 

 Bluefields Peak, in March. 



25. Polycesta (sp. nov.). Found resting on a twig of a tree 

 overhanging the high road near Content, in June. 



26. Psiloptera (sp. nov. near torquata). This fine Buprestis 

 was found in considerable numbers in June, resting on twigs of 

 the lignum-vitse tree (Guaiacum officinale), in an arid plain of 

 very peculiar vegetation, just behind Pedro Bluff. I found the 

 insects of this plain almost totally different from those found at 

 the leeward part of the island. The elevation is scarcely above 

 the level of the sea, the soil is sand, the trees scarcely attain a 

 greater height than twelve feet, and therefore the heat of the sun 

 is peculiarly intense. An hour or two in the middle of one day 



