Dr. T. R. Eraser on the Moth of the Ordeal-Bean. 389 



antennarum articulo quinto apice et sexto ad ultimum obscuris ; 



tibiis intermediis vix leviter emarginatis. 

 Long. lin. 3f, lat. hum. 1^ lin. 



Facies of M. chloroptera, Germ., but only one-third of its size, 

 and without the testaceous limb of the elytra. Elongate cylin- 

 drical, subdepressed j elytra parallel nearly to their apex, and 

 then suddenly rounded. Front with a stellate fovea, above which 

 it is broadly canaliculate. Head and thorax bright testaceous, 

 thickly but not coarsely punctured ; the latter subquadrate, as 

 broad before as behind, subtridentate or bisinuated at the sides. 

 Scutellum testaceous, impunctate. Elytra densely punctate- 

 striate, the interstices irregular ; somewhat rugose transversely 

 on the disk, costate at the apex; the third, fourth, and fifth 

 costae springing from a common stem near the apex. Under- 

 side and legs clear testaceous. 



Hab. Costa Rica. From Thomson's collection. 

 [To be continued.] 



XXXVII.— 0/i the Moth of the Esere, or Ordeal-Bean of Old 

 Calabar. By Thomas R. Eraser, M.D. Edin., Assistant to 

 the Professor of Materia Medica in the University of Edin- 

 burgh. 



The Rev. John Baillie, of Old Calabar, recently presented 

 me with a parcel containing about eighty seeds of Physo- 

 stigma venenosum, which had been collected because of their 

 showing indications of the attacks of an insect. In a paper on 

 the Esere, or Ordeal-Bean of Calabar*, it is stated by me that 

 " the bean has been always received remarkably free from all 

 disease,'^ only one form of slight and unimportant abnormality 

 having been met with. It is therefore a source of gratification 

 to me to have the first opportunity of modifying this expression. 

 These beans had been collected upwards of three months be- 

 fore they came into my possession. They were contained in a 

 covering of thick soft paper, which was found to be riddled by 

 numerous nearly circular holes, about the sixth of an inch in 

 diameter; and it was evident that these perforations had been 

 caused by an insect. On opening the parcel, the beans were 

 found adhering together by means of an abundance of silky 

 threads. They were easily disconnected, and, on separation, a 

 number of caterpillars were seen (generally alive, though slug- 

 gish in their movements), and a large quantity of what was 

 evidently their excrement. The greater number of the cater- 



* " On the Characters, Actions, and Therapeutic Uses of the Ordeal- 

 Bean of Calabar," in ' Edinburgh Medical Journal,' July, August, and 

 September 1863. 



