MR. a. LEWIS ON THE BUPEESTIDiE OF JAPAN. 327 



On the BuprestidcB of Japan. 

 By G. LEwir, E.L.S. 



[Eead 17fch November, 1892.] 



This paper is supplementary to a memoir on the Buprestidse 

 of Japan in the Journal of this Society, vol. si. 1873, pp. 509- 

 553, by Mr. Edward Saunders. In the earlier paper 36 species 

 are recorded, and 20 are now added, and for the convenience of 

 reference the names of all the species are brought together in a 

 systematic list. I have struck out of th*e former catalogue 

 Buprestis Lecontei, Saund., and Ptosima chinensis, Mars., having 

 reasonable doubts as to their being Japanese ; I have also re- 

 jected Chrysochroa ocellata, F., 1774, as I think Voet when he 

 described it as C. japonensis in 1806 was in error in attributing 

 the species to Japan. These species reduce the list slightly ; 

 but, on the other hand, there are 8 species of Agrilus left over, 

 as they are only represented by specimens unfit for types. 



Beyond the advantage of having Mr. Saunders' paper to guide 

 me, I have been able to compare a considerable number of speci- 

 mens with examples in the British Museum ; the collection there, 

 since the acquisition of the Saunders collection and the material 

 more recently presented by Mr. Grodman, is for the time being 

 one of the best. I am also indebted to Mr. Waterhouse for 

 kindly pointing out some of the characters he employed when 

 writing on the Pamily for the ' Biologia.' 



In the Trans. Amer. Ent. Soc. 1891, siii. pp. 277-336, Dr. Horn 

 has reviewed the N. American species of Agrilus, and refers at 

 some length to their external sexual characters. In the Japanese 

 series I have found several masculine characters which do not 

 appear in the New World species ; and this is quite in accordance 

 with a familiar phase in the Coleoptera, viz., that subsidiary 

 sexual differences are multiform, varying in different members 

 of the same genus, and as such afford only specific characters. 

 There is no evidence that the thoracic carina is a sexual character 

 in the Japanese species, but it varies a little in individuals 

 of either sex. Iq the American species, Dr. Horn thinks 

 there are sexual differences in the carinse, but under his notice 

 of Agrilus obtusus, Horn, p. 288, there is a confusing printer's 

 error, and in his description of A. acutipennis, Mann., he docs 

 not notice this character, although he refers to it in his preamble. 

 In the latter species also he has " united the two forms " he 



LINN. JOUB.N. — ZOOLuaT, VOL. XXIT. 26 



