Page:Transactions NZ Institute Volume 8.djvu/292

Rh to Rhyncodes ursus and R. saunderei, which belong to the Province of Canterbury; the former may justly claim pre-eminence as the typical specimen of the group. I possess a good many species of Stephanorhynchus, which are chiefly remarkable for their thickened thighs.

Of Scolopterus I have taken six species of a black or bronze colour, the smallest and most common is named Scolopterus penicillatus, and one of a dark red, found only on the native fuschia. Psepholax may generally be found in the decayed wood of Ngaio, Manuka, Kowhai.

Our present defective knowledge of this extensive class renders any detailed account impossible. In illustration of its extent I may mention that, besides the number I have sent home to be named, I have still remaining in one small bottle upwards of two thousand specimens, varying in size from the third of an inch to half a line.

The inexperienced collector will often fail to recognize many of the the members of this group, owing to their resemblance to pieces of wood, bark, etc, and their habit of remaining motionless when disturbed.

I have often noticed numbers of Elm and other trees in our neighbourhood presenting a decayed or blighted appearance, generally attributed to atmospheric influences, but were the owners of such sickly -looking plants to remove portions of the wood adjacent to the decaying twigs, they would probably find that the larvæ of insects belonging to this group did the damage.

Mr. Wakefield, in his treatise of 4th September, 1872, which appears in the "Transactions of the New Zealand Institute," refers to a species of Brentidæ (Lasiorhynchus barbicornis), which I never met with until T. F. Cheeseman, Esq., F.L.S., showed me one which he discovered near a decayed stump at the Thames. That beetle is by far the largest I have yet seen, its rostrum alone is equal to the entire length of Prionoplus reticulatis, hitherto considered the largest of our Coleoptera.

The most conspicuous members of this class with which I am acquainted are Prionoplus reticularis, Æmona hirta, Navomorpha lineata, and Hexathrica pulverulenta; the three latter being handsome beetles. Another remarkably fine species, dark blue with yellow stripes of about an inch long, occurs in the vicinity of Remuera. A single specimen of another species, which I captured on a fence at Whitiangi, is nearly as long as Prionoplus, but more cylindrical in form; its prevailing colours being blue and yellow; and more recently I discovered another new Longicorn, which equals, if not excels those already alluded to in beauty, though rather less bulky. Another Longicorn (Tetrorea cilipes) is common on Motuihi and along the East Coast. There is a curious Longicorn, which I suppose to be Calliprason