6*42 Mr. J. O. Westwood on the FaussidcB, 



Not having seen this species, I have been compelled to de- 

 duce the character detailed above from Donovan's short specific 

 description and figure ; and I doubt not that they will be con- 

 sidered sufficient to have warranted him in regarding this as 

 specifically distinct from P. thoracicus, although Donovan was 

 inclined to think they might ultimately prove to be the sexes of 

 the same species. Of these characters, the most material are 

 the variation in the form of the excavation of the last joint of 

 the antennae, and in the thorax ; and as it appears from Afzelius's 

 description of P. sphcerocerus that the sexes do not vary in the 

 formation of these organs, I am induced with Donovan to regard 

 them as distinct, rather than run the hazard of uniting what 

 Nature has apparently separated*. 



* Since the preceding observations were written, the Rev. William Kirby has, in 

 the most obliging manner, brought up to London for my inspection his collection of 

 Paussidee, including two specimens which he purchased at the sale of Mr. Francillon's 

 cabinet, one of them being the P. thoracicus, and the other a specimen which is 

 decidedly the P. Fichtelii, From a minute comparison of these specimens, I now 

 find that I did not err in considering the species as distinct. 1 have accordingly in- 

 troduced into the plate several outline figures drawn from Mr. Kirby's specimen of 

 P. Fichtelii in lieu of the tracing from Donovan's figure, which I had originally in- 

 serted. On comparing these with the original figures which I have given of P. thora- 

 cicus, other material specific differences will be perceived in addition to those stated 

 above. The general shape of the antennae and the number of elevations on the ridge 

 of the excavation of those organs are diflferent ; the keel-like anterior margin of the 

 clava is acute, and extends to the base in P. thoracicus; but in P. Fichtelii its anterior 

 margin is obtuse and irregular. The front of the head is more emarginate in P. tho- 

 racicus, and is more distinctly quadrate behind the eyes than in P. Fichtelii; whilst 

 the excavation on the crown of the head of the latter is oval and much deeper than in 

 P. thoracicus, in which it is somewhat square behind. The difference in the forma- 

 tion of the thorax will at once be perceived ; its posterior angles in P. thoracicus are 

 dark piceous. The colouring of the elytra scarcely affords a specific character, neither 

 of the species being so strongly marked as in Donovan's figures ; but in P. thoracicus 

 the lateral margins of those organs are furnished with strong bristles, whilst in P. Fich- 

 telii they are simply pubescent. 



Species 



