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_ Proceedings of Scientific ae 387 _ 
‘Mt. Var ghan, near Cape Palmas, West Africa, Jan. 15th, 1840. 
oe i j : “3 
Dear Sir.—I send fivéspecimens of the Calandra palmarum or palm weavel. 
This inséct inhabits the Elais Guineénsis, the palm tree from which the natives ob- 
tain their palm oil. It lives upon the juices of the tree, which, as they exist in 
their natural state, are exceedingly sweet and pleasant. It penetrates the cabbage 
by its rostrum, and is thus often found in the act of sucking the natural palm wine. 
I am informed by the Africans that the male is distinguished from the female, by 
being of a smaller size; the female is provided with a tuft of yellow hair upon the 
upper edge of the beak and the tibia of the fore leg. The larve and the fully de- 
veloped insect are eaten by the natives, and in either state are considered a deli- 
cacy; they are eaten uncooked or roasted, with pepper and salt. ‘They are taken 
by the aged and impotent for their supposed aphrodisiac powers. 
here is also a smaller species of Calandra, which is very destructive to the 
tice ; it is probably the C. granaria of Europe. 
The best and rarest of the Lamellicornes which [ have transmitted to you, are 
three specimens of the Starabaus Goliathus of Lin. and Drury. This species has 
received the different generic names of Cetonia, Fab. and Olivier, Goliathus, La- 
marck and Duncan, and more recently Hegemon from Dr. T. W. Harris, of Har- 
yard University. ‘The larger specimen seems to be the Cetonia cacicus, Fab. and 
Oliv., first described by Voét in 1785, and erroneously supposed to be a native of 
America. (See Hope’s Coleopterist's Manual.) This is positively pronounced by 
* 
identical with the insect described by Hope as C. princeps, and which on dissec- 
tion proved to be a female; and uncertain whether it had been previously de- 
scribed, he gave it the above name provisionally. The natives declare very posi- 
tively that it is the ** woman” of the larger specimen. They are both found on 
the same tree and have the same habits. They are not found immediately on the 
coast, but some miles back from the sea. They abound in January, February and 
March, and are easily obtained when the natives cut the forest trees preparatory to 
planting their rice. Yours, &c. Tuos. 8. Savace. 
Dr. 'T. W. Hanris stated that he regarded the specimen described by 
Dr. Savage as the Goliathus, the most valuable addition which had ever 
been made to the entomological cabinet ; he thought it distinct from the 
cacicus, the latter wanting the spots on the shoulders which existed in the 
specimen under consideration. He regarded it as an undescribed species. 
Dr. J. Wyman, exhibited the cranium and drum of the howling mon- 
key, Simia seniculus, Buff., a donation to the cabinet from F. W. Cragin, 
M.D. of Surinam. ‘The-craninm is remarkable for the great obliquity of 
the face, the facial angle being only 30°. When placed in its natural po- 
sition, the occipital hole is found to be on a level with the superior part of 
the orbit, and instead of being situated in the plane of the base of the skull 
as in most of the other quadrumana, it forms a right angle with it as in 
the rodentia. The lower jaw is excessively developed both in its body 
and branches, having a surface almost equal to that of the cranium. The 
branches of the lower jaw form two walls of a large cavity, in which is 
Contained the body of the byoid bone, modified in a most remarkable man- 
