The genus Cossonus was established by Clairville in the 1st 

 volume of his excellent work " Entomologie Helvetique" where 

 he has given C. linearis as the type of the genus : the diiferent 

 situation of the antennae, as well as the form of the rostrum 

 in the female of C. Tardii, are such marked differences as 

 entitle it to be distinguished from the others, as a division if 

 not as a genus. 



I have great pleasure in adopting the specific name pro- 

 posed by Mr. Vigors in honour of his friend James Tardy, 

 Esq., of Dublin, to whom I have to acknowledge my obliga- 

 tions for specimens of this fine Cossonus^ taken by himself and 

 Mr. Vigors in July 1822, near Powerscourt waterfall, county 

 of Wicklow, Ireland, under the bark of decayed hollies : it 

 appears, like all wood-feeding insects, to be extremely local ; 

 for Mr. Tardy in a letter says, " I have in vain sought for it 

 in places abounding as much in holly and in similar situations 

 in the same county." A slimy exudation, similar to that seen 

 where the Nitidulcje reside, was observed on the spots inhabited 

 by the Cossonus. 



The other species, which is an inhabitant of our own island, 

 C. linearis F., has been found in Windsor Forest, and also in 

 the neighbourhood of Fulham, where in June last Mr. Vigors 

 captured a large quantity in the stump of a willow-tree: 

 Mr. Howard Sims also took some specimens out of an old 

 elm-tree, many years since, near Epping, Essex ; these speci- 

 mens Mr. Stephens suspected to be a new species, which he 

 named C. elongatus, but from their mutilated state it is a dif- 

 ficult point to decide. 



The plant figured, to which the insect is attached, is Ilex 

 Aquifolium (Holly-tree). 



