174 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [June, 



from its magnitude he would have taken it for the Nodihicus, 

 if De Geer had not given as a distinctive & differential charac- 

 ter of the two species, that in Phosphoreus the thoracic spots 

 are visible beneath, a circumstance which combined with its 

 magnitude & " Personne au surplus n'a remarque une dent 

 mousse au milieu du bord inferior du corcelet' ' will not permit 

 us to consider them as the same, untill we know more about 

 them— According to Humbolt & Bonpland the larv^a of E. 

 Noctilucus feeds in the Sugar cane — Latreille also considers 

 them as distinct 



The Gymnopleure I sent you under the name of Indicus is 

 perhaps the Leei of Fabricius — the insect figured & described 

 by Oliver, which he calls Fulgidus is certainly very similar to 

 it. Fab : says it is only a variety It also strongly resembles the 

 sinuatus, fig^ by Oliv : but indeed I am not certain of the in- 

 sect at all it may be Sinuatus at last 



The two insects Nemestrinus & Pithecius in the descriptions 

 given to us of them, bear to each other a strong resemblance. 

 Turton says of both species that the ' ' Elytra are striated ' ' if 

 this be true our insect cannot be either as its elytra, are not 

 properly speaking, striated, as the lines are not at all im- 

 pressed & but just visible, but this character Fab : omits — For 

 Nemestrinus, Fab : refers to Herbst : Arch : t 43 f i — This 

 work I have, edited by Fuessly and translated into the French 

 language, his figure is certainly not that of our species for be- 

 sides many other differences the elytra are represented as 

 strongly & very obviously striated, the thoracic horns also are 

 very different they are placed nearer together & point more 

 horizontally forward, Herbst observes that it is covered be- 

 neath & on the feet with red hair — But upon reference to Oli- 

 vier' s fig: & descr (This noble work I have access to through 

 the kindness of a friend) I was at once convinced to a cer- 

 tainty that the Ins : I sent you as Pithecius is the Molossus — 

 The color of Pithecius is ferruginous & it is much less than 

 our Insect : & Oliv? fig. of Nemestrinus agrees perfectly with 

 Herbst' s — Olivier says of Molossus that at the base of the horn 

 of the head on each side is an elevated line ' ' L,e corcelet est 



