\ 
4 Phar & TAR RIV. 
The defcription which Linnaeus has given of our fpecies is, “ longi- 
“ roftris, corpore viridi aurato fubtus concolore ;” and Degeer has de- 
fcribed it in fimilar words. It is evident that Lzxxus had reafon to 
fufpect fome difference of colour between the two fexes, but perhaps 
he never imagined the C. Purpureus *, which he had before defcribed, 
was alfo one fex, or a variety of the fame Infect. 
Geoffroy fays, “ Rhinomacer totus viridi eceruleus ;”° and Fabricius 
adds, “ Variat fzepius colore omnino cceruleo. Alter fexus thoracem 
“ antrorfum fpinofum gerit.”” How thofe different defcriptions may 
be reconciled, fo as to be defcriptive of the two fexes of C. eis 
will appear more clearly on farther obfervation, 
“Alvate § in Wasi this feafon, being at Darent-Wood, beuees I met 
with one of the green kind, and one of a dark blue colour, with a 
fhade of green on the elytra; I could not be deceived, they were male 
and female ; as a farther corroboration, I met with a fecond pair, in. 
a fimilar fituation; and on the day following a third: .the blue one of 
this laft pair had not the fhade of green as on the former, but was of 
, arich lolly blue purple; and I am greatly miftaken if it is not the 
C. Purpureus of Linneus, or the Infect which is arranged in Engh/h — 
Cabinets for that {pecies. 
I communicated the circumftance of meeting with thofe two Infecs, 
which have always been confidered as diftinct kinds, to a perfon who 
_ alfo was collecting Infeéts in the wood, on the fame day, and he in- 
formed me that he had juft before difcovered them in the fame fituation, 
I have examined them very carefully, but cannot difcover any {pines 
on the thorax of the green and gold kind, though I have five of them, 
but the three purple {pecimens are all fpinous, as defcribed by authors. 
Iam of opinion, that the bright coloured fpecimens are all females, 
and thofe which are purple, limagine, are males, — | 
T mentioned the circumftance to an eminent Entomologift, and he 
at firft fufpected they might be mule Infects, generated between the 
* ep teaieg in hie Quai: of fhe Natural Hiftory ¢ of Creap Brune, ca! : 
_C. Purpureus,. Glofly Purple, Snout very long, Petiver found this at 
Epform. 
~ / C. Betule 
