494 Mr. F. P. Pascoe on new Neotropical Curculionidce. 



Copturus conj'unctus. 



C. oblongus, subangustatus, niger, elytris brunneo-fuscis ; rostro 

 tenui; antennis ferrugineis, funiculo articulo secundo longissimo; 

 prothorace oblongo, basi gibboso ; elytris supra depressis, apice 

 suturali mucronato. Long. 4 lin. 



Hob. Cayenne. 



Oblong, rather narrow ; rostrum slender, black ; antennas 

 ferruginous, second joint of the funicle as long as the next 

 five together ; prothorax about equal in length and breadth, 

 gibbous behind, black, with two faint yellowish lines at the 

 side ; scutellum rounded ; elytra depressed above, a little 

 rounded anteriorly at the sides, and abruptly rounded at the 

 apex, the suture terminating in a short spine, contiguous to 

 its fellow, chocolate-brown, the middle with an obscure round 

 black spot with a narrow whitish line behind, punctate-striate, 

 the interstices flatfish; body beneath black, scaleless, except 

 that the first abdominal segment and a triangular spot on the 

 second are closely covered with minute ochreous scales ; 

 femora strongly toothed beneath and bidentate at the apex, 

 black, the posterior with the basal two thirds ochreous ; pec- 

 toral canal confined to the propectus. 



Copturus illustrates the difficult j of defining a large genus. 

 Every character is liable to exception, not one appearing to 

 have a generic value, although there is a common interresem- 

 blance which is not to be mistaken ; the group, in fact, is a 

 natural one, but which perhaps might, for the advantage of 

 the systematist, be artificially divided into several genera. 



Among the few species with mucronate elytra this may be 

 known by the mucro being confined to the sutural edge, so that, 

 when the elytra are closed, it appears only as one. 



Copturus expletus. 



C. subrhomboidalis, niger, prothorace lineis tribus, elytris in medio 

 squamis ocbraceis ornatis ; rostro modice elongato, piceo-fusco ; 

 antennis fulvis, funiculi articulo secundo quam primum sesqui- 

 longiore ; elytris rude striato-punctatis. Long. '3^ lin. 



* Hob. Para. 



Somewhat rhomboidal, black, varied with ochraceous ; ros- 

 trum moderately long, pitchy brown ; antenna? fulvous, second 

 joint of the funicle half as long again as the first, the third 

 and fourth equal and as long as the first ; prothorax trans- 

 verse, the sides gradually narrower towards the apex, black, 

 strongly punctured, three lines on the disk of yellowish scales; 

 scutellum oblong ; elytra flat above, strongly punctate-striate, 

 the punctures in the strias large and nearly confluent, a broad 

 stripe of ochraceous scales along the suture, but confined to 



