262 Mr. A.White on some New Insects from the Congo, 



XXXiy. — Description of some apparently new Insects from the 

 Congo, sent to England hy Mr. Curror, Surgeon R.N., and the 

 late Mr. John Cranch. By Mr. Adam White^ M.E.SS. Lond. 

 and Paris, Assistant Zool. Dep. Britisli Museum. 



I INTEND giving here a list of such insects as I have seen on the 

 banks of the Congo lately collected by Mr. Curror, surgeon of the 

 "Water Witch/^ and among these^ added to the specimens collected 

 in Tuckey^s expedition, now in the British Museum, I trust that 

 a sufficient number of forms will be found to make the list inter- 

 esting to the student of the geographical distribution of insects. 



The unfortunate termination of the expedition to explore " the 

 river Zaire, usually called the Congo/' in 1816, under the direc- 

 tion of Capt. Tuckey, is well known ; in the list of supernumeraiy 

 passengers, exclusive of the crew of forty-nine, who went out, 

 occur as the first names those of *^ Mr. Professor Smith, botanist, 

 and Mr. Cranch, collector of objects of natural history." To the 

 zoologist the name of the latter is a well-known sound ; Montagu 

 and Leach have published the results of some of the labours of 

 the Devonshire naturalist. To some of the marine productions 

 of our southern shore, first discovered by him, his name has been 

 applied ; in the preface to a paper on Annulosa, I need only men- 

 tion the two Crustacea, Ebalia Cranchii and the rare Achmis 

 Cranchii, taken by him in Falmouth bay. Should his eulogy 

 be wanted, consult the works of Leach and Col. Montagu. 

 Mr. Cranch died in his 31st year, a victim to the climate of un- 

 healthy W. Africa : he was buried at Embomma along with Mr. 

 Tudor, his comrade. A friend thus writes of him (Introd. to 

 Tuckey's Narrative) : " If I may judge from external appearances, 

 he was an aiFectionate husband and father, a sincere friend, a 

 pious, honest and good man.'' 



His collections are in the British Museum. Thirty-six only 

 of his insects, according to Dr. Leach, " reached England in a 

 tolerable state, the rest were entirely destroyed by insects and 

 damp." Five or six of these were regarded by Leach as species 

 new to entomologists ; two have been described : one, the Platy- 

 genia Zairica, by MacLeay ; another by Serville from Dej can's 

 collection, the locality of which was unknown ; it is the beautiful 

 longicorn beetle, Euporus strangulatus. 



Papilio Ridleyanus, n. sp. Pap. ecaudatus fuscus, alis anticis sub- 

 elongatis, supra maculis 5 flavo-miniaceis, posticis supra miniaceis, 

 fusco marginatis nigroque maculatis, posticis subtus caryophyllaceo 

 flavoque tinctis. Exp. al. ^ unc. 3 fere, ? unc. 3^. 

 Hah. ad eras flumiiiis Zaire. Dom, Curror lexit. Brit. Mus. 



Wings above of a brownish black with red spots and marks, the 

 upper wings here and there semitransparent. 



