ON THE CETONIIDiE OF SOUTH AFRICA. 



35 



$ Clypeo antice concavo, comu medio brevi recurvo apice dilatato triangulum obversum 



simulante. 

 9 Clypeo quadrato antice subsinuato. 



Cetonia quadrimaculata, Oliv. tab, 8. fig. 73. 

 Gnathocera 4i-maculata, G. P. p. 181. tab. 19. fig. 4, 

 Long. corp. 12 lines. 



Note. Messrs. Gory and Percheron have figured tlie female from Mr. Hope's collection, taking it for a 

 Coryphe (or as tbey erroneously call it, Gnathocera) to which sub-genus aU the females of the Smithian 

 section of Goliathi, so nearly approach. Olivier, Fabricius, and Schonnherr, seem also to have known 

 only the female. On the other hand I possess only the male, and as my specimen has lost the last joint 

 of all its tarsi, I cannot say whether the last joint of the anterior tarsus has a brush on the inside above 

 the ungues or not. The species comes close on the confines of the following sub-section, as may be seen 

 by the structure of the anterior tibiae of the male, which are not multidentate on the inside, according to 

 the rule of the Goliathi Smithii in general. My friend Mr. Hope says that this species is identical with 

 the Goliathus Daphnis of M. Buquet ; but the last named entomologist is nevertheless right in consider- 

 ing the two to be distinct species, since the horns of the clypeus of the males are different as well as their 

 anterior tibiee. Goliathus Daphnis in fact belongs to the same section as G. Smithii, and beautifully 

 connects that species with the Goliathus 4<-maculatus. So true it is, that while analysis is necessary for 

 correct synthesis, sometimes also synthesis conducts us to correct analysis. 



Section 2. Hopfnerii. 



69. This section I only know by M. Gory's description and figure of an insect from Mexico, 

 in the collection of the Count Dejean, and called by him Goliathus Hopfneri. It seems to 

 me to belong truly to the sub-genus Goliathus, differing from the section of Smithii, in the 

 form of its head, and from the Gigantei in the form of its thorax, which is neither convex nor 

 lobated behind in the middle. 



Sp. (Cetoninus) Goliathus Hopfneri, Dej. 



Descr. Goliathus clypeo nigro, corpore subtus thoraceque obscuris villo flavescente obtectis, elytris 

 rufo-brunneis nigro-carinatis, femoribus subtus fulvis. 

 $ Clypeo porrecto dilatato bifido, vertice transverse elevato, ramisque divergentibus. 



? 



Goliathus Hopfneri^ Dej. Cat. Ed. 3. p. 188. 

 Goliathus Hopfner, G. P. p. 154. tab. 26. fig. 2. 



Note. An unique specimen of the male is said to be in the collection of M. Dejean, and from Gory's 

 description of it I have ventured to compile the preceding character. Little value however ought to be 

 assigned to compilations of this kind, or indeed to any description which is not founded on actual inspec- 

 tion. I hope, therefore, that Comte Dejean will favour us soon with a detailed description and accurate 

 figure. 



Section 3. Gigantei. 



70. These of all insects are the most esteemed by collectors, because they are exceedingly 

 rare, and at the same time most conspicuous for their size and beauty. Even the rich 

 collection of M. Dejean contains no specimen according to the last edition of his catalogue. 

 I have known fifty guineas asked for Goliathus giganteus, and a specimen now in my col- 

 lection is known formerly to have cost 29Z. This section of the sub-genus is distinct from all 

 the others, and, indeed, from all the other sections of the genus Cetoninus, in having the 



F 2 



