an Insect of the Genus Buprestis. 403 



aware is more easily proposed tlian 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 anoilier 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. 



I am, &c. 



Thomas Marsham. 



XXII Ex- 



