Mr. H. W. Bates on the Longicorns of the Amazon Valley. 48 
found in its bulb differ from raphides ; and endless confusion 
will continue unless we restrict this term, as proposed in the 
‘ Annals’ for September last. The distinctive characters also of 
the larger crystal prisms, which sometimes, as in Yucca, occur 
in the same leaf with regular raphides, should not be over- 
looked. 
Dioscoreacee.—In the fleshy root of Dioscorea Batatas (the 
only part of this plant which I have yet examined) raphides are 
very abundant. We have before seen how truly Zamus com- 
munis is a raphidiferous plant. It is a very good example of the 
constancy of this character, as I have found from many observa- 
tions, under widely different circumstances, of the stem, leaves, 
perianth, stamens, and berry. Recently I have examined its 
yam-like root and young subterranean stem-shoots, and found 
them all equally rich in raphides. So large and distinct are they 
in the root, and contrast so remarkably with the starch-granules 
of which it is chiefly made up, that a more beautiful microscopic 
object of the kind could not easily be found. 
Bromeliacee.—Kaphides plentiful in the fruit and crown- 
leaves of the pine-apple (Ananassa sativa). 
Musacee.—In the outer part of the rind of the Banana-fruit 
(Musa paradisiaca?) raphides are numerous, but not so in the 
pulp. 
Edenbridge, Dec. 2, 1863. 
[To be continued. ] 
VI.— Contributions to an Insect Fauna of the Amazon Valley. 
CourorteRA: Lonaicornes. By H. W. Barss, Esq. 
[Continued from vol. xii. p. 38].] 
Genus BaRyYssINUS, nov. gen. 
Body oblong, convex. Antennz stout, furnished sparingly 
with sete beneath. Thorax somewhat short and broad, widening 
from the front to the tips of the lateral spines, which are very 
thick, and placed near to the hind angles. Elytra furnished with 
centro-basal tubercles, surmounted each by a pencil of hairs; the 
rest of their surface naked ; apices scarcely perceptibly truncated. 
Apical abdominal segments in the male short and obtuse, in the 
female slightly prolonged, so as to form a short sheath for the 
ovipositor, the dorsal plate being flattened and obtuse, the ven- 
tral bluntly truncated. Mesosternum depressed, not tubercu- 
lated. Legs stout; thighs clavate ; basal joint of the tarsi short, 
not surpassing in length the second and third taken together. 
This genus, which comprises a few small species resembling 
