the Coleopterous Family Cerambycidse. 311 



The former is a glossy testaceous insect, with a round bright- 

 yellow spot on each elytron, and the bases of the femora white ; 

 it is about 2J lines long. Both species are from New Zealand. 

 I refer the genus to the Stenoderinse, which for me provisionally 

 comprises a series of anomalous forms, mostly Australian, frag- 

 ments perhaps of a once larger group, but which might, and 

 probably will, be divided into almost as many subfamilies as there 

 are genera. Beyond their anterior contiguous conical coxae, they 

 have scarcely any characters in common ; but they have often a 

 petiolate abdomen, and antennae never inserted beyond the eyes; 

 and these characters will to a certain extent generally distinguish 

 them from the allied subfamily Lepturinse. The only European 

 genus belonging to it is Molorchus^, 



OSSIBIA. 



Antenna setaceae. 



Oculi magni, infra contigui. 



CoxcB anticae globosae. 



Head transversely ovate in front, without a groove above the 

 epistome. Eyes very large, contiguous beneath. Antennse seta- 

 ceous, 11-jointed, longer than the body; the scape short, cla- 

 vate ; third joint shorter than the scape, the fourth to the sixth 

 or seventh gradually longer, the remainder equal. Prothorax 

 elongate, subcylindrical. Elytra parallel. Anterior coxae glo- 

 bose. Legs gradually longer posteriorly ; femora claviform ; 

 tarsi linear, posterior with the basal joint as long as the two 



* This genus was founded by Fabricius (Ent. Syst. i. 2. p. 356) on the 

 Necydalis major, Linn. The name Necydalis was first appHed by Linnaeus, 

 in his 'Iter (Elandicus,' to N. minor; but it was only in the 12th edition 

 of the * Systema Naturae ' that he characterized it, when N. major took 

 precedence. We have therefore, if we take the first species of a genus, 

 when it is first published, as the type, two generic names given to one 

 species. But it has always appeared to me a mistake to apply such a rule 

 to any of the Linnean species, nor has it been usually done ; for example, 

 the type, so called, of his Leptura is now a Donacia, of Ceramhyw an 

 Acrocinus ; so of Scarabaus, Cantharis, Tenebrio, Carabus, Elater, and 

 others, in all of which the first species has received a new generic name. 

 Now the Linnean characters of Necydalis are of the most shadowy kind. 

 Here they are : — "Antennae setaceae. Elytra alis minora, breviora s. angus- 

 tiora. Cauda simplex." The last seems to have been intended to sepa- 

 rate it from the earwigs. On the other hand, Fabricius's description of 

 Molorchus is evidently only taken from M. major, the first species, as was 

 invariably his rule in the ' Ent. Syst.' Had he had N. minor before him, he 

 would not have said "antennis thorace longioribus " for an insect in which 

 those organs were twice the length of the body. The formula of Linnaeus, 

 then, applying to anything (the greater part of his species are, in fact, 

 heteromerous), and the Fabrician description applying strictly to major 

 and not to minor, it seems to me that Molorchus sliould be confined to the 

 former and its congeners, and that Necydalis should be used for the species 

 to which the name was originally applied. 



