526 . Mr. Francis P. Pascoe's Notes on 



XLV. Notes on the Australian Longicornia, with De- 

 scriptions of sixty Neio Species. By Francis P. 

 Pascoe^ Esq., F.L.S., V.-P. Ent. Soc, &c. 



[Read 6th July, 1863.] 



In an extensive collection of Australian Longicornia that I re- 

 cently received from William Macleay, Esq., JM.L.A., of Sydney, 

 I found about thirty species quite new to me. Previously I had 

 obtained from Mr. Stevens a number of undescribed species that 

 had formed portion of a collection made by Mr. Darnel in various 

 parts of Australia. These, with a ?ew others from various sources, 

 are the materials from which the following descriptions are made. 



The whole of the species here described are, with very few 

 exceptions, quite distinct from any hitherto known to me ; and 

 these exceptions refer almost entirely to the genera Symphyletes 

 and Hesthesis. In both of these there are some forms that at the 

 first glance do seem as if they were only varieties, but, on ex- 

 amination, afford strong grounds for specific distinction, and it is 

 in reference to these that I think it will be desirable to examine 

 a large series of specimens before we can be quite sure that the 

 characters on which they are based as species are permanent. 

 I am very confident that entomologists do not take into suffi- 

 cient consideration the variation that often occurs in species. 

 There is an innate tendency in many species to vary infinitely, 

 while others, under all circumstances, are almost immutable. 

 Many of our domestic animals may be cited as examples of 

 both cases. In the British Museum may be seen a series of 

 an Australian Longicorn — Brachytria gulosa — almost any two 

 of which, taken without the others, would certainly be considered 

 distinct by the ordinary observer. Zygrita diva is another 

 Australian Longicorn, of which probably two individuals will rarely 

 be found alike. As a general rule, however, the great mass of 

 species appears to vary but little ; but in the Longicornia an 

 exception must be made as to size, and the length of the an- 

 tennae. 



In Mr. Darnel's collection there was a Leptura, nearly allied to 



