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Show 120 MR. A. BOUCARD ON THE GENUS PLUSIOTIS. [Mar. 2, capite aureo, margine anteriore rufo,parce punctulato ; thorace elytrisque aureo-pallidis subtiliter punctulatis, elytris leeviter striatis, 'pygidio rufo ; infra rufa violaceo micans, tarsis cupreis, antennis fuscis. Length 1 inch 3 lines. Head, thorax, and elytra of a very pale burnished gold-colour, very slightly punctured, the anterior margin of the head rufous; elytra slightly striated, of about the same length as those of P. aurora, but a little broader ; pygidium rufous. The underside also rufous, with red and purple reflections * tarsi of a coppery colour, with the claws nearly black, antennae pitchy. Hab. Costa Rica. I have only one specimen of this very fine insect, which was collected by an American geologist, Professor Gabb. I dedicate this fine species to m y esteemed friend Mr. H. W . Bates, the celebrated naturalist traveller, in honour of his numerous discoveries on the Amazons, and his important works on entomology. PLUSIOTIS CHRYSARGYREA. Pelidnota chrysargyrea, Salle, Annales de la Soc. Ent. de France, tome iv. p. 362. This very handsome species comes close to P. batesii, from which it differs chiefly in the colour, which is still more brilliantly metallic, and also in a broad rosy margin on each side of the thorax; the legs and tarsi also differ in colour, being green with blue claws. M y friend M . Auguste Salle has recently published a diagnosis of this species in the Bulletin of the Entomological Society of France for the 12th of August 1874. He has two specimens, which were brought over from Costa Rica by Dr. van Patten. M. Salle says that one of them is in colour just like quicksilver, and the other golden. I have compared these specimens with P. resplendens and P. batesii, from which they totally differ, although these last-named species are also golden. These three species, with P. aurora, are among the most magnificent insects yet discovered; and it is very probable that many more remain to be detected in Central America. As m y esteemed friend M . Salle says he intends to give a full description of this species, it is useless for m e to do so, as he is better able than myself to do justice to the subject; but I hope he will agree with me in placing this insect among the Plusiotides, as it has the characters by which this genus is distinguished from Pelidnota. Although these characters are slight, they seem to be constant. I think there are only three specimens of this fine insect known : two are in the collection of M . Salle; and the other one is probably in Germany. I say this because I know for certain that Dr. van Patten had three specimens when he left London for Germany in 1872._ This species is one of m y desiderata. PLUSIOTIS MARGINATA, Waterh. Ent. Month. Magaz. 187b vol. viii. p. 5. P. marginata : oblongo-ovata, minus convexa, supra prasina, infra |