62 



covered with a great number of short fine hairs, resembling the pile on velvet ; the anterior part, with a 

 narrow and indented margin, of a cream colour, also surrounding the scutellum. The elytra are two 

 inches broad at the base. Legs very dark green colour, almost black. Intermediate and posterior 

 femora and tibiae with dark yellow hairs. Abdomen very dark green, furnished on the sides and edge 

 with dark yellow hairs. Sternum rather long. 



This magnificent insect may be regarded as one of the rarest species figured in these 

 Illustrations. Drury states, that the specimen here represented was brought from Africa 

 bv Mr. Ogilvie, surgeon of His Majesty's ship the Renown, being found floating, dead, in 

 the river Gaboon, opposite Prince's Island, near the equinoctial line. Nearly seventy years 

 have elapsed since the insect was first described, and yet the insect remains, as far as my 

 knowledge extends, unique.* It would appear that the specimen either belonged to or 

 passed into the hands of Dr. Hunter after the death of Mr. Drury, for Fabricius describes 

 the species with a citation of the museum of Dr. Hunter alone ; and Olivier's figure was 

 taken from the specimen whilst it was in that gentleman's possession. After his decease 

 it passed, with his collection, by bequest, into the possession of the University of Glasgow, 

 where it now forms one of the most interesting objects in the Hunterian Museum. Joseph 

 Hooker, Esq., son of Sir W. Hooker, the highly distinguished botanist of Glasgow, teUs 

 me that the individual in question was picked up by a sailor in the river above mentioned, 

 and that it is stated in the MSS. of Dr. Hunter that it cost Mr. Drury £lO. In the 

 Catalogue of the Insects of Mr. Drury, which were sold by auction at the Natural History 

 Sale Rooms in King Street, Covent Garden (now occupied by Mr. J. C. Stevens), on the 

 23rd of May, 1805, and two following days, the 95th lot is described as " Scarabaeus 

 Goliathus, var." Whence it would appear that the insect here figured was not in the 

 possession of Mr. Drury at his decease, and that he only possessed the insect figured in 

 the 3rd volume of these Illustrations, pi. 40, which evidently on the authority of Fabricius 

 he had regarded as a variety only of the specimen here figured. 



The genus Goliathus is exceedingly interesting, not only on accoimt of the gigantic 

 size and singular form of the species of which it is composed, but also from the geographical 

 range of the group. Mr. Kirby observes upon this subject, " Mr. W. S. Mac Leay has 

 remarked to me that Goliathus Lam. appears to belt the globe, but not under one form. 

 The t}3)es of the genus are the vast African Goliaths (G. giganteus, &c.), which, as well 

 as G. Polj-phemus, and another brought from Java by Dr. Horsfield, have, like Cetonia, 

 the scapulars interposed between the posterior angles of the prothorax and the shoulders 

 of the elytra, while the South American species (G. micans,t &c.) have not this projection 

 of the scapulars ; in this resembling Trichius ; Mr. Mac Leay further observes, that the 



• Since this was written, I have been favoured by Mr. Mac Leay witli an inspection of his magnificent coilectiou, which 

 possesses a Goliathus, nearly resembling the insect here figured, and which that gentleman considers as a variety of this. It is, 

 however, considerably smaller, and the horns of the head are not so much developed. 



f Goliath, micans is an inhabitant of Africa, and not of South America, it is figured in the 2nd vol. of these Illustrations, pi. 3-2. 



