ANALYSIS. 501 



Notwithstanding Schbnherr's excellent work, the great- 

 est confusion still prevails with respect to the two pre- 

 ceding species ; and it has arisen entirely fi-om Fabricius, 

 when publishing his Sy sterna Eleutheratortim, having for- 

 gotten the insect which he had described in his Sy sterna 

 Entomolosicz under the name of morbillosus. The S. mor- 

 billosus of his Ent. St/st. is a German insect, (" Habitat 

 in Germania") and is evidently the species found in Malta 

 and the south of Europe, and described by Panzer, Ent. 

 G. I. p. 17. n. 69. This is so dissimilar in form and sculp- 

 ture from A. intricatus of the Syst. Eleuth., that it could 

 never have been confounded with it on comparison. It 

 would appear, therefore, that Fabricius, when about to 

 publish his Syst. Eleuth., saw an African insect, which 

 answering nearly to his description of the true S. morbil- 

 losus, the form of which he had forgotten, he thought pro- 

 per to alter the habitat from Germania to Guinea, and the 

 ** Elytra striis punctisque numerosis exarata " to " Elytra 

 striis elevatis undatis," Avithout taking any notice of the 

 difference. They are blunders like these which render Natu- 

 ral History such a drudgery, although their rectification is 

 by some esteemed to be the whole of the science. The in- 

 sect, however, which Fabricius describes as A. morbillosus 

 in the Syst. Eleuth. has truly so great an affinity to his 

 A. intricatus, that, when he suspects them to be varieties 

 of the same species, (" Statura, magnitudo et summa affini- 

 tas A.morbillosi, cujus forte mera varietas,") I am inclined 

 to think him in the right. Olivier appears also to have 

 been of the same opinion, for he says of S. Pal(£rnon,"Il 

 se trouve au Senegal, au Cap de B. Esperance." The spe- 

 cies are only to be distinguished by Palamon being rather 

 smaller than intricatus, besides being more punctated, 



