164 OTTO O 



1859. Very similar to L. Onopordinis, but proportionally more 



elongate and less convex ; rostrum and thorax longer ; pilosity 

 of the body underneath much thinner and shorter : thighs 

 thicker, more clavate, the anterior evidently costate-rugose 

 underneath ; without whitish marks on the elytra, and without 

 that layer of light-brown earth-like pollinose transudation 

 which is often wanting in rubbed specimens of Larinus 

 Onopordinis. The freshest specimens have the griseous margin 

 of the elytra, which parts from the base under the shoulder, 

 obliquely and angularly ampliate interiorly towards the middle, 

 where it reaches the second stria. This griseous pilosity fills 

 all the tips of the elytra, leaving bare only the sutures, an 

 angular notch behind the middle (which forms with that apical 

 part of the suture a kind of hook on each elytron), and 

 two round spots, one submarginal fronting the tip of the notch, 

 the other larger, discoidal, behind the foot of the notch, much 

 above the tip. [N. Repert. f. Pharm. viii. 535.] 



ON OTTO OF ROSE. 



(Rosenol) 



1859. THE importance of authentic specimens is well understood by 



naturalists. The botanist, who has had the opportunity of 



verifying the Linnean name of a plant by comparing it with 



Importance Linnseus's own specimen, is sensible that no more satisfactory 



of authentic . ,. mi i , i -, . 



specimens, proof is wanting. The entomologist who can appeal to the 

 specimens of Fabricius, or the zoologist who can point to those 

 named by Cuvier as identical with his own, feels that he can 

 rightfully adopt the names given by those authors. Nor is the 

 student of Materia Medica much less in need of authentic or 

 type specimens as standards of comparison. Yet how difficult 

 it would be to point to a specimen of Sarsaparilla as indubi- 

 tably the root of one particular species of Smilax, or to find 

 in our museums a specimen of myrrh or olibanum, or gam- 

 boge, with indisputable data as to its botanical origin and place 

 of production. 



