5 
also^ in characterizing most of the remaining genera and species 
of Dejean w'hich still, as unmeaning names, encumbered the 
science. Moreover, the work, as bringing together, in some- 
thing like order, a vast amount of hitherto scattered material, 
will be of great service. 
A few more general remarks on these important works will 
perhaps not be out of place here, although they do not all strictly 
apply to the Amazonian fauna. The position of the Lepturitse as a 
group subordinate to the Cerambycidse seems to me untenable. 
The true Lepturitse, by the structure of their fore haunches, the 
shape of the head, the insertion of the antennae, and other fea- 
tures, appear to me better placed as an independent tribe, ac- 
cording to the system of Latreille. The Distenitae, for similar 
reasons, namely the shape of the head and the insertion of the 
antennae, I think should also be considered an independent 
tribe, instead of being intercalated between Rhopalophoritae and 
Cerambycitae. The Pseudolepturitae of Thomson, as he justly 
remarks, require much further examination : they are in some 
respects the most curious forms of the whole family, and will 
require probably the institution of one or more distinct tribes. 
It is a merit of M. Thomson’s system to have improved very 
much the constitution of the tribe Prionidae, which previously 
was a most heterogeneous assemblage ; but it has escaped him 
as well as other authors that the genera Cheloderus and Oocy- 
lieltis, singular Chilian forms, have a muzzle differently con- 
structed from that of all other Longicornes. They also differ 
from all in the shortness of the third antennal joint. In the 
shape of the muzzle they resemble Sagra and allied genera in 
the family Phytophaga. They are especially ill-placed among 
the Prionidse. Two Australian genera, viz. Brachytria and Py~ 
theus, are closely allied to them ; and the four, I believe, must 
be made to constitute another independent tribe. 
In the following review of the Amazonian Coleoptera belong- 
ing to this family, I have thought it better, on the whole, to 
adopt the system of M. Thomson, introducing some modifica- 
tions, and endeavouring to find more suitable characters for the 
genera, commencing with the tribe Lamiaires. It must not be 
urged too severely that the groups are not precisely charac- 
terized. It is a matter of great difficulty, perhaps impossibility, 
to find constant characters for the subordinate divisions. It is 
one of those groups of insects in which Nature, in striving after 
strong individuality in the s])ecies, seems to have ehanged or 
adapted those parts of structure on which we rely for characters 
of genera and groups of genera. The family, too, is found 
throughout ail parts of the world where woody vegetation exists. 
