44 Mr. H. W. Bates on the Longicorn Coleoptera 



also, in characterizing most of the remaining genera and species 

 of Dejean which still, as unmeaning names, encumbered the 

 science. Moreover, the work, as bringing together, in some- 

 thing like order, a vast amount of hitherto scattered material, 

 will be of great service. 



A few more general remarks on these important works will 

 perhaps not be out of place here, although they do not all strictly 

 apply to the Amazonian fauna. The position of the Lepturitse as a 

 group subordinate to the Cerambycidae seems to me untenable. 

 The true Lepturitse, by the structure of their fore haunches, the 

 shape of the head, the insertion of the antennse, and other fea- 

 tures, appear to me better placed as an independent tribe, ac- 

 cording to the system of Latreille. The Distenitse, for similar 

 reasons, namely the shape of the head and the insertion of the 

 antennse, I think should also be considered an independent 

 tribe, instead of being intercalated between Rhopalophoritse and 

 Cerambycitse. The Pseudolepturitse of Thomson, as he justly 

 remarks, require much further examination : they are in some 

 respects the most curious forms of the whole family, and will 

 require probably the institution of one or more distinct tribes. 

 It is a merit of M. Thomson's system to have improved very 

 much the constitution of the tribe Prionidse, which previously 

 was a most heterogeneous assemblage; but it has escaped him 

 as well as other authors that the genera Cheloderus and Oxy- 

 peltis, singular Chilian forms, have a muzzle differently con- 

 structed from that of all other Longicornes. They also differ 

 from all in the shortness of the third antennal joint. In the 

 shape of the muzzle they resemble Sagra and allied genera in 

 the family Phytophaga. They are especially ill-placed among 

 the Prionidse. Two Australian genera, viz. Brachytria and Py- 

 theus, are closely allied to them ; and the four, I believe, must 

 be made to constitute another independent tribe. 



In the following review of the Amazonian Coleoptera belong- 

 ing to this family, I have thought it better, on the whole, to 

 adopt the system of M. Thomson, introducing some modifica- 

 tions, and endeavouring to find more suitable characters for the 

 genera, commencing with the tribe Lamiaires. It must not be 

 urged too severely that the groups are not precisely charac- 

 terized. It is a matter of great difficulty, perhaps impossibility, 

 to find constant characters for the subordinate divisions. It is 

 one of those groups of insects in which Nature, in striving after 

 strong individuality in the species, seems to have changed or 

 adapted those parts of structure on which we rely for characters 

 of genera and groups of genera. The family, too, is found 

 throughout all parts of the world where woody vegetation exists, 

 and has endured probably, under the same laws of modification. 



