88 Capt. Boyes on the Ciconomy of the Pausside. 
with yellowish brown. The quills are deep blackish brown, al- 
most black. 
ft. in, 
Entire length of the skin (stretched) to the end of the tail... 1 14, 
OF Pill to extremity OF TCHS © asosnshpnddsnpnasocarhis-ceenasaanel oe. 2h 
Of wings from bend to end of first quill .........sceseceeeses » One 
CVE CRESTS: ooh inn js dupsnnabpe nes bh ousiciy epeh nbbinetse seek dons seeedard vee 0. 019 
Of middle: te... ica sipsis oineeds Jiseniia vies diese ckurwas bipcin wonad . 0 14 
In the Torres Straits’ bird, a? , the entire length ofthe skinis 0 11,5 
Of bill to Cxtreriity Of Fictas :”.. 5. ..>ceduccasocsssuuscetas chs 0 27; 
Of wings from bend to end of first quill ...........cecececeeeee » oO 8A 
COT ORME iii ce ancbarch Sub tn sixknss mae shteheats covcacnbcccccesnectsh 0 04 
Cf salle LOG |, 954. cksae yes bon tines sais sabi neseny sehen cour Gunna: 0 1% 
The length of Sterna tenuirostris, given by Temminck, | 10 in. to 11 in. 
56 TCOM: o.ncsvedsegnvd ia axd Sule eaws toh ae (13 Rede da iis sbiteas (French). 
XIV.—Notes on the Giconomy of the Paussidee, extracted from 
Capt. W. J. E. Boyes’ Paper, published in the Journal of the 
Asiatic Society of Bengal (No. 188.—N.8. No. 54). 
Starx in his ‘ Natural History’ correctly states, as far as I can 
vouch from my own experience, that the number of joints in the 
tarsus of the Paussus is five, which circumstance alone should, I 
imagine, have proved a sufficient reason for the removal of this ge- 
nus from the Tetramerous to the Pentamerous section of the Coleo- 
ptera; but as it will be observed from the following notes, that in 
addition to its general form, which in outward appearance approxi- 
mates to many of the Carabici, it is also, similarly with several 
of the latter genus [family], endowed with the faculty of crepitation, 
attended with the same results observable in many of these, their 
removal may (I think) well be warranted from the place they now 
hold to somewhere in the vicinity of Aptinus or Brachinus. 
The thorax resembles the form which obtains in that part of most 
of the Carabici, being generally cordiform, truncated posteriorly with 
margins produced, though some species have it angulated in front 
and irregular. In flight the Paussi are exceedingly easy and agile, 
the lower wing when expanded being, in comparison to the size of 
the insect, of large dimensions ; and when they alight the movement is 
so sudden, and the elytra are closed so instantaneously over the lower 
wings, that they appear as having dropped down to the spot on which 
they rest, and where they generally remain several seconds previous 
to again attempting to move,—facts which I have also remarked as 
practised by many Carabici. Its walk however entirely differs from 
that of this last-mentioned tribe; for instead of being nimble and 
occasionally rapid, I have never seen it moving but in a slow and 
sedate manner, at which time the antennz are extended to the front 
of the head, and to these is occasionally given an upward vibratory 
motion. 
