238 CocciNELUDiE. INSECTS. PaussidjE. 
duction” the occurrence is thus mentioned: “One 
morning I observed on my study window a little Lady- 
bird, yellow, with black dots {Coccinella ’punctata). 
‘ You are very pretty,’ said I to myself, ‘ and I should 
like to have a collection of such creatures.’ Immediately 
I seized my prey, and not knowing how to destroy it, I 
immersed it in geneva. After leaving it in this situation 
a day and a night, and seeing it without motion, I con- 
cluded it was dead, and laid it in the sun to dry. It 
no sooner, however, felt the warmth than it began to 
move, and afterwards flew away. From this time I 
began to attend to insects.”* 
CONSPECTUS OF EUROPEAN GENERA OF LADY- 
BIRDS (from Thomson’s Coleoplera of Sweden). 
F.amily Coccinei.eidas. Maxillary palpi with the last joint 
securiform ; all the cox® subtransverse, not much exserted ; 
thorax closely applied to the elytra ; elytra not striated. 
Sect. I. Forehead, before the eyes, dilated, covering the base 
of the antennm ; mandibles concealed. 
Genus Chilocorus, Leach (type C. renipustulalns, Scriba^. — 
Clypeus notched at the tip; labrum distinct; tibiae before 
the middle armed with a little tooth. 
I come now to a family of doubtful position, but 
with pentamerous tarsi. I place them here provision- 
ally 
Family— PAUSSID^. 
The Paussid.® are a family of beetles of rare beauty 
in the eyes of an entomologist. The Paussidae have 
strange, swollen antennre, and truncated elytra, while 
their thorax is often curiously grooved and knotted. 
Professor Adam Afzelius of Sierra Leone, shortly after 
it was founded, was sitting one evening in January, 
1796, when, having just lighted his candle and taken 
up his pen, he remarks, “ I observed something dropping 
down from the ceiling before me upon the table. It 
remained for a little while quite immovable, as if 
stunned or frightened, but soon began to crawl veiy 
slowly and steadily.” The insect he afterM'ards de- 
scribed as Paussus sphcerocerus, and a curious creature 
it is, with a light reddish-brown body and legs, and a 
strange white ball or berry at the end of each antennae. 
Fig. 140. Fig. 141. 
Genus Exochomus, Redt (type E. 4-pustulatus, Linn.) — Tibi® 
unarmed. 
Genus Platynaspis, Redt (type P. villosa, Muls.) — Labram con- 
cealed ; body above pubescent. 
Sect. 2. Forehead not flattened out before the eyes; aniennce 
free at the base. 
Div. 1. Mandibles free at the tip, extending beyond the trans- 
versely linear labrum ; body semi-globose, above pubescent ; 
tibice with obsolete spurs; antennas not contiguous to the 
eyes ; forehead in front of the eyes notched. 
Genus Epilachna, Redt (type E. globosa, Schneider). — Claws of 
the tarsi bifid; body winged. 
Genus Cynegetis, Redt (type C. impunctata, Linn.) — Claws with 
a basal tooth ; epipleura of the elytra behind the posterior 
cox®, with a fovea receiving the tip of the femora. 
Div. 2. Mandibles concealed, 
Phal. 1. Eyes entire, rounded; body very often pubescent 
above ; pygidium often exposed; tibim with obsolete spurs. 
Genus Rhizobius, Steph. (type R. litura, Fabr.) — Prosternum 
keeled in front; antenn® ne.arly of the length of the thorax; 
thorax narrowed towards the tip. 
Genus Coccidula, Kug. (type C. rufa, Herbst.). — Thorax at the 
base narrower than the elytra, with the posterior angles 
right-angled. 
Genus Scymnus, Kug. (type S. aler, Kug.) — Antenn® shorter 
than the thorax; elytra with humeral tubercles; pygidium 
exposed. 
Genus Hyperaspis, Redt (type H. reppensis, Herbst). — Body 
above rather smooth ; elytra without any humeral tu- 
bercle. 
Phal. 2. Eyes in front somewhat notched ; body above smooth. 
Genus Hippodamin, Muls. (type //. \i-punctata, Linn.) — Pos- 
terior cox® little distant; metasternum triangularly cut 
out behind ; femora extending beyond the margin of the 
elytra. 
Genus Coccinella, L. (type C. 7 -punctata, Linn.) — Posterior cox® 
widely distant ; metasternum behind slightly notched. 
Genus Halyzia, Muls. (type Id. ocellata, Linn.) — Prosternum in 
front tubereulated ; mesosternum in front slightly notched: 
tibi® v/lth obsolete spurs. 
Genus Micraspis, Redt (type M.\2-punctata, Linn.) — Scutellum 
scarcely conspicuous ; labi-um transversely linear. 
* Introduction — ii., p. 187. 
He took none after February, and before that several 
flew into tbe candle, so tbat be concluded it was noc- 
turnal. Our two figures (figs. 140 and 141) represent 
Paussus Latreillei from Sierra Leone, and PlaUgrlio- 
pahts aplusirifer from Bengal. 
From Mr. Westwood’s well illustrated monograph in 
the “ Arcana Entomologica,” our figures of the Paus- 
sidtE are derived. 
As my friend Major- 
general Sir John Hearsey, 
when colonel in the East 
India Company’s service, 
was inspecting some invalid 
troops in India, he noticed a 
Paussus on the jacket of 
one of the Sepoys and went 
up and secured it. West- 
wood named the species 
after him, Paussus Hearse- 
ianus ; it is reddish-brown, 
with a broad black stripe 
down each elytron, and is 
not rare, apparently, at Sultanpore, near Benares. Fig, 
142 shows this species.* 
' Westwood, Arcana Entomologica, p. 189. 
Fig. 142. 
Paussus Hearsei.anus. 
