the Australian Longicornia. 553 



fo those of Obrium cil'iatum (see p. 559), only that in the latter 

 there are four pairs of them instead of three. 



Genus Elete. 

 Caput exsertum, fronte brevissima, mandihulis porrectis. Oculi 

 divisi, partibus approximatis, prominulis, supra sub-approxi~ 

 matis, infra distantibus. Anlennce elongatae, setacese, basi sub- 

 remotae, articulo basali curvato, versus apicem incrassato, 

 quarto tertio longiore, caeteris gradatim brevioribus. Protho- 

 rax elongatus, irregulariter cylindricus. Elytra angustata, 

 sub-parallela,abdomine breviora. Perfeselongati; coa;<e anticae 

 sub-approximatae ; femora clavata, basi attenuata ; tarsi breves, 

 articulo primo caeteris longiori. Mesosternum latum, postice 

 emarginatum. Corpus angustatum. 

 The more important characters of this genus, such as the slen- 

 der habit, the large and prominent coxae, and the attenuated basis 

 of the femora, point to some of the forms which group themselves 

 round Obrium, although in habit it resembles some Mallocerce, 

 which are nearly allied to Phoracantha. The divided eyes, how- 

 ever, and the elytra imperfectly embracing the abdomen, are 

 found only in genera allied to the first. With regard to the ante- 

 rior coxae, the forms from globular to conical are not only gradu- 

 ated, but in neighbouring genera, where the same form might be 

 expected to recur, there is a marked difference. Compare, for 

 instance, Listrocerum, where they are remarkably elongated and 

 conical, with Smodicum, or Molorchus major with Necydalis* minor, 



* There is great confusion respecting these names. Necydulis was first used 

 by Scopoli (Faun. Carniol.), and afterwards by Linnaeus (Iter ffiland.), and ap- 

 plied by them to minor and umhellatarum, major being then unknown. In the 

 Fauna Suecica, the latter is for the first time described, and is placed immediately 

 after minor. In the twelfth edition of the Syst. Naturae, major comes first, and is 

 followed, not only by minor and umhellatarum, but by eight species belonging to 

 (Edemera, Asclera, and other Heteromerous genera. Then came Fabricius (Syst. 

 Eleuth.), who, calling the first of these groups by the new name of Molorchus, 

 continued that of Necydalis to the remainder. So far as the latter change is con- 

 cerned, he has not been followed ; but Molorchus has been adopted by many 

 authors. Now, it is quite evident that major and minor belong to different genera; 

 accordingly, Mr. Newman long ago proposed Heliomuiies for the latter, having, 

 however, used the term in the first place for an Australian Longicorn, which after- 

 wards was found to be congeneric ; and more recently M. C. G. Thomson, in his 

 Skandinaviens Coleoptera, has proposed Ccenoptera for the same species. We 

 have thus four names for the two genera. If we are to avoid the introduction of 

 a name which has never been used on the continent (//eZi'omaHes), I think priority 

 will compel us to confine the term Necydalis to minor as the Linnffian type in the 

 first instance, and then major naturally falls into Molorchus, as the first of the 

 species described by Fabricius. 



