105 
Mr. Waterhouse laid before the Meeting his descriptions of nume- 
rous species of Coleopterous insects from the southern parts of 
South America, which had been placed in his hands for that purpose 
by H. Cuming, Esq. and C. Darwin, Esq. Those from Mr. Cuming 
formed part of a collection made by Mr. Thomas Bridges, who ex- 
pressed a wish that the specimens should be laid before the Zoolo- 
gical Society. Unfortunately, the exact localities of the insects are 
not mentioned in Mr. Bridges’s notes, but there is reason to believe 
they were collected in the neighbourhood of Petorca. The species 
described belong to the genera Nyctelia and Listroderes, or are nearly 
allied to those two groups. 
Section HETEROMERA. 
Family Nycrexip2. 
Genus Nycreia. 
Species from the collection of Thomas Bridges, Esq. 
Nycrezia L&yis. Nyct. atra, nitida ; capite anticé punctis sparsis 
notato ; thorace mediocriter convexo, latiore plusquam longo, parte 
anticd angustiore, ad latera modicé rotundato, margine anteriore, 
pilis brevibus flavescentibus fimbriato, angulis et anticis et posticis 
productis et subacutis, dorso punctis parvulis dispersis: elytris 
levibus convevis, brevibus, ovatis, apice producto et subacuto ; ca- 
rind laterali crenulatd ; segmentis abdominalibus rugis irregula- 
ribus longitudinaliter impressis. 
Long. corp. 113 lin. ; lat. 62; lat. thoracis, 42; long. ib. 23. 
Black and glossy ; general form ovate ; thorax and elytra convex 
above, and presenting no distinct sculpturing. Head with scattered 
punctures in front, smooth behind. Thorax with very fine scattered 
punctures, and these most numerous on the fore part: parallel with, 
and at a short distance from the lateral margins of the thorax is an 
indistinct line on each side, formed by the somewhat abrupt termi- 
nation of the convex discoidal portion at this part ; the space between 
this line and the outer margin is nearly plane, and presents a few 
indistinct irregular ruge, having a tendency to a transverse dispo- 
sition. The thorax is broader than long, the width to the length 
bearing very nearly the proportion of 8 to 5; the middle of the thorax 
and hindermost part are about equal in width, but from the middle 
to the front the width gradually decreases ; in front it is emarginated, 
and the anterior margin is furnished with a fringe of short, dense, 
yellowish hairs; the posterior margin presents an undulating line, 
encroaching on the body of the thorax on each side about midway 
between the mesial line and the posterior angle, which is produced. 
The elytra are very convex, and nearly of an ovate form; they are 
widest in the middle, and the apical portion is produced ; the lateral 
keel (which forms the outer boundary of each elytron, viewing the 
insect from above) is not very prominent, and is indistinctly crenu- 
lated : this ridge does not extend to the apex of the elytron, but ter- 
minates about two and a half lines from that point: between the 
