an Insect of the Genus Buprestis. 403 
. 
aware is more easily proposed than answered; yet it is not im- 
possible but that future observations may lead to an explanation 
of this mystery. 
I cannot conclude this letter without mentioning another cu- 
rious circumstance related to me by Sir Joseph Banks. The 
Sirex Gigas was seen in the nursery of a gentleman, to the no 
small discomfiture of both nurse and children in consequence 
of its size and wasp-like appearance; and a few days afterwards 
several insects of that species came. out of the floor of the same 
room. I once had one sent to me, which was reported to have 
eaten its way through a leaden pipe; and the Sirex Juvenca, a 
large blue one, 1 found in my own bedchamber, in a house that 
had been newly built. 
That numbers of exotic insects are imported into this country 
in timber, and different packages of goods, there is no doubt; 
and therefore it becomes the duty of the British Entomologist 
to be cautious how he arranges them, and not to consider every 
insect to be British that is found alive in this country. 
Iam, &c. | 
: Tuomas MARSHAM. 
XXH. Er- 
