Mr. H. W. Bates on the Longicorns of the Amazon Valley. 367 



fig. 3, it will be seen that some of the raphis-cells of Arum are 

 nearly -^ih of an inch in length and — ^th in breadth. 



Asjiaragacea. — This is probably a true raphidiferous order ; 

 for, though I have not examined the exotic species, I have found 

 raphides in all the British plants (except Maianthemum, which 

 I have not seen). In Asparagus officinalis, raphides occur 

 throughout the plant, and at all periods of its growth, from the 

 first leaf-bud to the ripe berry. 



Edenbridge, Oct. 14, 1863. 



[To be continued.] 



XXXVII. — Contributions to an Insect Fauna of the Amazon Valley. 

 CoLEOPTERA : LoNGicoRNES. By H. W. Bates, Esq. 



[Continued from p. 288.] 



Genus Lepturges, nov. gen. 



Body depressed, oblong, elliptical or elongate, free from irre- 

 gularities or tubercles on its surface, and clothed with fine, 

 prettily variegated tomentum. Antennse long and hair-like, 

 sparsely clothed with short, stiff hairs ; the basal joint greatly 

 elongated, gradually thickened from the base, the club thus 

 formed being waved or not in its outline beneath; the remaining 

 joints (except the second) very slender. Thorax trapezoidal, 

 depressed, the lateral spines placed close to the hind angles, or 

 at a short distance from them. Elytra free from centro-basal 

 ridges or tubercles, more or less truncated at the tip, except in 

 rare instances, where they are entire. Abdomen with the ter- 

 minal segment slightly elongated in the females, the dorsal 

 plate obtusely pointed at the tip, the ventral truncated or scarce 

 perceptibly emarginated; in the males the same terminal seg- 

 ment has both its ventral and dorsal plates entire at the tips. 

 Legs moderate in length, the thighs moderately clavate, and 

 the basal joints of the tarsi elongated. 



This group, which comprises a large number of small Leiopo- 

 dine Longicorns of Tropical America, is so closely allied to the 

 European genus Leiopus that I have great hesitation in sepa- 

 rating it. All the species, however, differ from the European 

 Leiopus nebulosus (the type of the genus) in the shape of the 

 thorax, and in the antennse having very slender and elongated 

 joints more or less clothed with stiff hairs. The thorax has, in 

 nearly all the species, a trapezoidal outline, the lateral spines 

 being placed very near to, or coincident with, the hind angles, 

 the surface depressed, and the sides widening from the head 

 towards the base. In one section, however, the spines are more 

 or less distant from the hind angles, and they then have the 



