Mr. P. H. Gosse on the Insects of Jamaica. 199 
flying in at the open windows, attracted by the candles, crawling 
in great numbers over the tables, wading through the gravy, or 
drowning itself in the tea. It is commonly known by the name 
of Christmas Bug, from its increased abundance at the end of 
the year. 
18 . ? Croesus {Scarabceus Croesus, Newm.). This species 
seems to belong to an undescribed genus, and was previously 
known by a single specimen in the collection of the British 
Museum. 
19. Podalgus (sp.). Taken at New Forest, near Alligator 
Pond, in December. 
20. Chalepus geminatus. Flew into the house at Bluefields in 
May, attracted by the lights in the evening. 
21. Chalepus (sp. near geminatus). 
22. Macraspis tetradactyla. In May and June this glossy 
black species of the family Rutelid(B is abundant around blossom- 
ing trees. Both at Sabito and at the Hampstead Road we have 
observed it so numerous about certain trees as to give notice of 
its presence some time before we came near by the loud buzzing 
of the scores that were flying around the summit, while on ap- 
proach the tree appeared quite blackened by the multitudes that 
were resting on every twig. On giving the tree a smart blow 
with a stick, the sudden rush into the air of hundreds of these 
beetles was really a spectacle worth seeing, and the noise pro- 
duced by their wings was like that of a swarm of bees. The tree 
provincially called Potato- wood seems to be the kind chiefly re- 
sorted to by these assemblages. In May a piece of rotten wood 
was brought me, in which were many of this species, in the 
larva, pupa, and recently-evolved imago. 
23. Gymnetis lanius. This is comparatively a scarce insect. 
A single one is occasionally seen in the spring, buzzing around 
a flowering bush, in the lowlands. 
24. Passalus interstitialis ? or tlascala ?. Several were found 
beneath the rotting bark of a fallen tree, on the very summit of 
Blueflelds Peak, in March. 
25. Polycesta (sp. nov.). Found resting on a twig of a tree 
overhanging the high road near Content, in June. 
26. Psiloptera (sp. nov. near torquata). This fine Buprestis 
was found in considerable numbers in June, resting on twigs of 
the lignum-vitse tree [Guaiacum officinale), in an arid plain of 
very peculiar vegetation, just behind Pedro Bluff. I found the 
insects of this plain almost totally different from those found at 
the leeward part of the island. The elevation is scarcely above 
the level of the sea, the soil is sand, the trees scarcely attain a 
greater height than twelve feet, and therefore the heat of the sun 
is peculiarly intense. An hour or two in the middle of one day 
