44 PAUSUS. 



laterally compressed, above depressed and under- 

 neath having a knob, which, in moving, touches the 

 bundle of hairs on the top of the under joint : the 

 pedicle is long and crooked, its upper part being 

 broader, compressed, and keeled in front : the in- 

 terior palpi are of a lanceolate-oblong shape, and 

 furnished with very minute hinges: the mandibles 

 have small hinges, and the inferior sheath is much 

 larger than the superior: the hind-legs are a little 

 shorter than the others: the joints of the tarsi are 

 difficultly distinguished. This rare insect is a native 

 of Banana island, and Sierra Leona in Africa. Its 

 colour is a blackish brown. It is represented on 

 the annexed plate both in its natural size, and 

 considerably magnified. 



The second species, or Pausus sphcerocerus, is 

 thus described by Dr. Afzelius. 



" I had been in Africa almost three years before 

 I happened to meet with this remarkable little 

 insect; and then it was quite accidentally. There 

 was a house building for the Governor, on an 

 eminence called Thornton Hill at the South end 

 of Free-Town in Sierra Leona; and in the begin- 

 ning of the year 1795, several apartments having 

 been got ready, so as to be habitable, one of them 

 was allotted to me, and I removed into it in the 

 end of the month of January. I had not resided 

 there many days, when one evening, having just 

 lighted my candle and begun to write, I observed 

 something dropping down from the ceiling before 

 me upon the table; which, from its singular ap- 

 pearance, attracted my particular attention. It 



