88 Capt. Boyes on the (Economy of the Paussid^e. 



witli yellowish brown. The quills are deep blackish brown, al- 

 most black. 



ft. in. 



Entire length of the skin (stretched) to the end of the tail... 1 lyV 



Of bill to extremity of rictus 2^^ 



Of wings from bend to end of first quill 9 



Oftarsus , 0|f 



Of middle toe l^^ 



In the Torres Straits' bird, a ? , the entire length of the skin is 1 It\ 



Of bill to extremity of rictus 2y\ 



Of wings from bend to end of first quill 8j\ 



Oftarsus 0^\ 



Of middle toe 1^^ 



The length o^ Sterna tenuirostris, given by Temminek, ']^ 10 in. to 11 in. 



is from ~ 



\ lOin. to 11 i 

 / (French). 



XIV. — Notes on the (Economy of the Paussidse, extracted from 

 Capt. W. J. E. Boyes' Paper, published in the Journal of the 

 Asiatic Society of Bengal (No. 138.— N. S. No. 54). 



Stark in his * Natural History ' correctly states, as far as I can 

 vouch from my own experience, that the number of joints in the 

 tarsus of the Paussus is five, which circumstance alone should, I 

 imagine, have proved a suflScient reason for the removal of this ge- 

 nus from the Tetramerous to the Pentamerous section of the Coleo- 

 ptera ; but as it will be observed from the following notes, that in 

 addition to its general form, which in outward appearance approxi- 

 mates to many of the Carabici, it is also, similarl}'^ with several 

 of the latter genus [family] , endowed with the faculty of crepitation, 

 attended with the same results observable in many of these, their 

 removal may (I think) well be warranted from the place they now 

 hold to somewhere in the vicinity of Aptinus or Brachinus. 



The thorax resembles the form which obtains in that part of most 

 of the Carabici, being generally cordiform, truncated posteriorly with 

 margins produced, though some species have it angulated in front 

 and irregular. In flight the Paussi are exceedingly easy and agile, 

 the lower wing when expanded being, in comparison to the size of 

 the insect, of large dimensions ; and when they alight the movement is 

 so sudden, and the elytra are closed so instantaneously over the lower 

 wings, that they appear as having dropped down to the spot on which 

 they rest, and where they generally remain several seconds previous 

 to again attempting to move, — facts which I have also remarked as 

 practised by many Carabici. Its walk however entirely differs from 

 that of this last- mentioned tribe ; for instead of being nimble and 

 occasionally rapid, I have never seen it moving but in a slow and 

 sedate manner, at which time the antennae are extended to the front 

 of the head, and to these is occasionally given an upward vibratory 

 motion. 



