18 ■ 



its point of union a projection or short process is directed upwards ; 

 the keel of the sternum is here very ample. These are hirds not so 

 much of rapid as of untiring powers of flight, which, unlike that of 

 the impetuous Falcon, is sweeping and majestic. In the Falconidee 

 the OS furcatum, though very strong, does not at all approach to the 

 form of a triangle, as in the birds alkided to, but describes a figure 

 not unlike that of a horse-shoe, and a considerable space intervenes 

 between it and the keel of the stermnn." 



A Paper was read, entitled, " Characters and Descriptions of a 

 new Genus of the Family Melolonthida : by John Curtis, Esq., 

 F.L.S., &c." 



In a collection of Insects recently received by the author from 

 Lima is contained a beautiful series of the one constituting the type 

 of his proposed new genus 



Ancistrosoma. 



AntenncE capite breviores. 



Clypeus, in mare prsesertim, emarginatus. 



Thorax acutfe marginatus, hexagonus ; dente brevi in baseos medio 

 armatus. 



Pedes longissimi, robusti. 



The stoutness of its legs and the sharp lateral edges of its thorax 

 distinguish Ancistrosoma from all the neighbouring genera : the male 

 is further cliaracterized by an acute, rather long, and slightly curved 

 spine near the baseof theafirfomen beneath. Its natural situation is pro- 

 bably between Diphucephala, Dej., the males of which have abilobed 

 clypeus, and Macrodactylus, Latr., which is very similar to it in habit, 

 and has also very long legs ; but these in Macrodactylus are slender, 

 while in Ancistrosoma they are robust. Neither Diphucephala nor 

 Macrodactylus possesses the little tooth at the base of the thorax lap- 

 ping over the scutellum, a structure which is, how'ever, met with in 

 Ceraspis as well as in Ancistrosoma ; but in Ceraspis, independently 

 of the other differential characters, the antenna and club are long. 



Ancistrosoma Klugii. Anc. ferrugineum, supra piceo-nigrum; 



thoracis margine elytrorumque strigis sex albidis. 

 Long, maris 12 lin. ; fceminse plerumque minor. 

 Hab. in Mimosa floribus apud Huanuco prope Lima, Peruviae. 



Of the three streaks on each of the elytra, the sutural one does not 

 reach so far as the base, the second extends neither to the base nor 

 to the tip, and the outer one is still shorter : they consist of broad 

 punctured furrows, white with short hairs. 



The cocoon of the pupa is ovate, hard, and in texture somewhat 

 like that of Trichiosoma Lucorum, Leach ; its operculum is semiorbi- 

 cular, with a broad hinge and narrow rim : the shell of the pupa is 

 similar to that of other Melolonthida. 



Mr. Curtis describes in great detail the several parts of this In- 



