The Insect Fauna of Van Diemen's Laud. 315 



(Laporte) : (*) three otliers^ (one of whicL. P. rufy)ennis, 

 is imperfectly described by "Fabricius) (f) belong to Met- 

 riorhyncJms Guer, ; but this is not materially different from 

 the other. (J) A fifth new species may possibly belong, 

 to Aiiarhijnclms Guer. (§) 



(*) Silbermann. Revue Entomolog. IV. p. 26. 



(+) Lycus ncjvpennis. Fab. Syst. Eleuth. II. 144, 20. Generally speaking, this V.as 

 been confounded with another larger species, on which Laporte founded his genus 

 Porrostoma, and which was forwarded to our collection imder that name by LattreiUe. 

 But the species to which I refer was sent by Fabricius himself, who received it from 

 Labillardiere. As its description by Fabricius is very imperfect, I will give a more ac- 

 cui'ate one below. Possibly Lycus rhipidiiim or septemcavics Mac Leay, (King, Nar- 

 rat. II. 442, 36.) may belong to that genus, but the question cannot be decided by its 

 description only, as that suits several New Holland species equally weU. 



(?) Guerin, Voy. d. 1. CoquiUe, Zool. II. 2, p. 71. has given a classification of the 

 Lycus, merely however a synoptical index, not even a list of the species belonging to the 

 new genera. A more detailed account, (promised with a view to further elucidations,) 

 did not appear. I am still undecided in my opinion respecting several genera, but on 

 the whole, I think the classification far from good. Three divisions are made, — de- 

 pending on the greater or less length, and the entu'e want of the proboscis ; but a num- 

 ber of forms without the proboscis, as Oalopteron Lap. (Charactus Dej.) have been in- 

 cluded in the second division, with those having a short proboscis. A greater or less 

 length of proboscis forms no (/ejierJc distinction, all the three genera, which have a 

 proboscis, have one division with a longer, and one with a shorter proboscis. Lycus 

 presents a very distinguishing character in its shortened mandibles, almost like those 

 of butterflies, and it contains partly, species in which the male has broad wings, and 

 partly, species in which both the sexes are alike large, and have narrow wings, as L. 

 fermgineus F. ; the division with a short proboscis contahis Lygistopterus cardinalis, 

 Dej., several other Mexican, and one North American species. In this, the mandibles 

 are the same as in the first division A second genus is Lygistopterus, Dej.( Dictyop- 

 tera Guer., but it appears to me more accordant with LatreDle's viev/s, to employ this 

 name after Dejean's example for Lycus aurora, etc.) in v.'hich i. succinatus (Latreille) 

 represents all those having along proboscis ; L. sanguineus those with a short proboscis ; 

 of the latter there are many species in different parts of the world. Forrostoma diiiers 

 ti'om these two genera in having the antennae turned in, not at the base of the snout, 

 but on the fore part of the head. The long proboscis-form, which corresponds with- 

 Forrostoma Lap. Guer : is confined to three extremely similar New Holland species ; the 

 short proboscis-form is distributed also over the Indian archipelago ; it was called by 

 Guerin the genus Ifetriorhynch'iis, but this name is now no longer applicable, so that 

 the two forms are united m one natural division, one family of Porrorfoi^za. 



(§) Accordmg to Guerin's definition AnarhyncJms has not any proboscis ; the second 

 joint of the autennae is as long as it is broad ; and the third joint is at least double as 

 long as the second jthis last characteristic distinguishes it from iLomalisus, of which 

 tlie third antenna joint is very little longer than the second. As Guerin has not des- 

 cribed i)ici^i/opifij'!ts Dej,, of which I must here remark, that accordmg to the above- 

 mentioned definitions, D. minutus would be an Anarliynchus and L. affinis an Honia- 

 lisus, I am not certain, whether I am right in supposing the Van Diemen's Land 

 species to be an Anarhynchus. It assimilates most with llomalisus ; it has a flexible 

 head, andlonger feet, not a two- plated shield behind ; it differs chiefly in the shield' 



2s 



