Dr. Afzelius'j Obferi'dtiom en the Genus Paufus. i$y 



Now I find from thofe of his mannfeript papers which Mr. 

 Drury obligingly has permitted me to peril fe, that though he often 

 travelled to different places between Iflcs de Lofs and Shei-hro', 

 ftill he refided chiefly at the Bananas;— and therefore I think wc 

 fhall not be much miflaken, if we confider this ifland, or the adjacent 

 part of Siena Leone, as the only native country hitherto known of 

 P. microcephalus, this rare infecl:, of which there are no more to 

 my knowledge now exifting in Europe than the three fpecimens 

 before-mentioned, all of which I have feen, but in a very different 

 manner ; for, of the Linnaean one, now in the poffeffion of Dr. Smith 

 at Norwich, I had only a curfory view, at a time when I entertained 

 no idea of defcribing it; but the other two I have been allowed to 

 examine and compare carefully. And as the figures annexed to 

 Linne's differtation, though upon the whole of merit, were found 

 to be capable of conveying a wrong notion of the true ftructure of 

 the antennae, and principally of their fuperior joint ; Sir J. Banks 

 did me the favour of granting me leave to have his fpecimen drawn 

 in different fizes and pofitions. 



Linne defcribes this infecl: as niger elytris piceis, Thunberg and 

 Gmelin as totus niger, and Fabricius as fufcus. Herbft calls it ater t 

 but figures the elytra piceous, and the reft of the body blackiih- 

 cinereous ; and thus makes it very curioufly refcmble an harlequin. 

 As to Fuefsly, he has only copied Linne's words; but in the French 

 edition both niger and piceus are tranflated by noire. — Hence we find 

 that this infecl: has been defcribed now with one colour and now 

 with another, and fometimes as having two colours, though it does 

 not poffefs but one, and that almoft uniform. This is a fingular 

 fact, and a linking inllance of authors not knowing the true figni- 

 fixation of Linne's terms. 

 Vol. IV. L 1 It 



