32 Mr. Edward Saunders ow 



abdomen yellow, the lower edge of each segment, and 

 a spot on each side near the upper edge, green. Legs 

 green. 



Head deeply punctured, hairy in front. Thorax three- 

 quarters as broad again at the base as long ; anterior 

 margin ciliate, nearly straight, half as long as the base ; 

 sides gradually rounded; base slightly bisinuate; disk 

 very convex, shining, covered with rugose punctures. 

 Elytra deeply striate, almost twice as long as broad ; 

 sides slightly sinuate below the shoulders, widest a little 

 below the middle, whence they gradually converge to the 

 apex, which is somewhat truncate, with a very obtuse 

 external angle. Underside and legs slightly hairy and 

 punctured. 



Length 11 lines; breadth 4^ lines. 



Hab. Swan River. 



20. Stigmodeea Yarrellii, (PI. II. fig. 18). 



(Hope, Bupr. p. 3) ; L. & G. ii. SUg. 14. pi. iii. fig. 11. 



{S. YarelU) . * 



Stigmodera favipennis, Gehin, Mem. Soc. Hist. Nat. 



Metz, 1855. 



Stigmodera elegans, Gehin, ibid. 



" Elytris striato-punctatis nigro-violaceis testaceo-4- 

 fasciatis, thorace punctate cyaneo, lateribus flavis. 

 Corpus infra luteum, annulis abdominis postice pedi- 

 busque viridibus." (Hope). 

 Head and thorax cyaneous, the lateral margins of the 

 thorax, and a small spot just above the scutellum yellow. 

 Elytra yellow, with three bluish-black bands, the first ex- 

 tending from one shoulder to the other in an almost 



[* Laporte and Gory adopted the name of tliis insect from Hoi^e, but 

 spelt it at one time YarelU, at another YareUii, always with one " r." 

 Btit some there are who curry their advocacy of the law of priority in no- 

 menclature to such an extreme, that they would insist upon the fierpetua- 

 tion of this blunder, and would condemn posterity throughoiit all time to 

 write Stigmodera YarelU as the name of an insect dedicated to William 

 YarreU. Truly, this is keei^ing the letter of the law with a vengeance ! 

 Under a semblance of obedience to rule, the rule itself is perverted ; the 

 reason and object of the law are lost sight of, it is applied to a case beyond 

 its scope, it is strained to produce a result never intended by its framers. 

 Every law has limits beyond which it cannot reasonably be carried ; the law 

 of priority in nomenclature is no exception, but requires to be rationally 

 interpreted and rationally applied. To make it the means of enforcing 

 the perpetuation of an error in orthography is to misapply the riile, and 

 the result is an absurdity. Moral sense denounces the misapplication, 

 common sense rejects the result. — J. W. D., Sec. Ent. Soc] 



