Characters of Dohrnia. cxxxv 



short hairs, deeply and confluently punctured and almost destitute of gloss : wings 

 ample, smoke -"coloured, not entirely concealed by the elytra. 



Legs of moderate size and simple form : procoxae large, approximate, black with a 

 small ferruginous spot at the apex ; profemora slightly excurved at the apex, ferrugi- 

 nous, with a black blotch on the outer side at the base, prolonged into a black line 

 along the upper edge to the extreme apex : protibiae slightly excurved at the base and 

 again at the apex, ferruginous, with a black line on the upper edge of the apical half; 

 protarsi distinctly 5-jointed, the basal joint short, the 2nd and 3rd still shorter, the 4th 

 deeply notched, bilobed and cushioned beneath ; the four closely crowded together ; 

 the 5th simple, rather exceeding the lobes of the 4th in length ; the claws rather large, 

 simple ; the entire tarsus ferruginous, the joints just tipped with pitchy black and the 

 claws of the same colour ; mesocoxae of moderate size, closely approximate at the 

 base, black; mesofemora somewhat flattened, excurved, dilated beneath into a rounded 

 praeapical tuber, like an almost obsolete tooth, black ; mesotibiae simple, black, ferru- 

 ginous at the base, distinctly 5-jointed and perfectly black ; the detail of the joints as 

 in the protarsi : metatibiae longer than the pro- and mesotibiae, excurved, furnished 

 with 2 apical spines ; metatarsi distinctly 4-jointed, the basal joint long, simple, and 

 produced into a spine at the extremity, the 2nd short, elongato-triangular, the 3rd 

 flattened, dilated, cushioned beneath, the 4th simple, springing from the upper surface 

 of the 3rd ; the metapedes are black, with a faint indication of pitchy red at the joints. 



Abdomen beneath black, with a metallic green lustre, five segments only are visi- 

 ble ; these are punctured, and clothed with scattered hairs, yet shining ; four of them 

 are entire, the 5th or apical segment is deeply notched, and divided into two rounded 

 dehiscent lobes, and from the notch issue two longer, larger, rounded lobes, apparently 

 connected with sexual function ; these are fringed along the exterior margin with pale 

 hairs, which in their uniform curvature and extreme regularity resemble eye-lashes. 



Hab. — Hobart Town, Van Diemen's Land, where it was taken by Dr. John Co- 

 verdale, and obligingly communicated to me by Mr. H. Colquhoun, of Glasgow. 



Named Dohrnia, in honour of Herr Dohrn, the President of the Stettin Entomor 

 logical Society, and intended to commemorate that gentleman's visit to this country, 

 which will long be remembered with pleasure by those who had the good fortune to 

 enjoy his company. 



The affinities of this very remarkable-looliing insect do not appear difficult to as- 

 certain. The distinctly heteromerous tarsi decide that its station must be among the 

 Hormocera ; its flexible and somewhat dehiscent elytra induce one to regard it as one 

 of the Stenelytra ; while the structure of the head, mouth, prothorax and tarsi, fully 

 bears out this location, because in these parts it closely resembles the well-known 

 (Edemera caerulea, an insect which serves as a kind of type for Dr. Leach's family 

 (Edemeridae, and this appears to be typical in the higher group at present called 

 Stenelytra. I should however remark that considerable discrepancy exists in the struc- 

 ture of these parts, between species which, in other respects, seem perfectly cognate ; 

 for instance, between (Edemera caerulea and Asclera viridissima. Our insect com- 

 bines the oral apparatus of the former* with the habit of the latter, more nearly how- 



* Mr. Curtis, under the name of (Edemera sanguinicollis (Brit. Ent. pi. 390), 

 appears to me to have drawn his details of the oral apparatus, as well as the inflated 

 metafemur, from (Edemera caerulea, while the entire insect represents a true Asclera, 



