6‘42 
Mr. J. O. Westwood on the Paussidce, 
Not having seen this species, I have been compelled to de- 
duce the character detailed above from Donovan’s short specific 
description and figure ; and I doubt not that they will be con- 
sidered sufficient to have warranted him in regarding this as 
specifically distinct from P. thoracicus, although Donovan was 
inclined to think they might ultimately prove to be the sexes of 
the same species. Of these characters, the most material are 
the variation in the form of the excavation of the last joint of 
the antennae, and in the thorax ; and as it appears from Afzelius’s 
description of P. sphcerocerus that the sexes do not vary in the 
formation of these organs, I am induced with Donovan to regard 
them as distinct, rather than run the hazard of uniting what 
Nature has apparently separated*. 
# Since the preceding observations were written, the Rev. William Kirby has, in 
the most obliging manner, brought up to London for my inspection his collection of 
Paussidce, including two specimens which he purchased at the sale of Mr. Francillon’s 
cabinet, one of them being the P. thoracicus, and the other a specimen which is 
decidedly the P. Fichtelii. From a minute comparison of these specimens, I now 
find that I did not err in considering the species as distinct. 1 have accordingly in- 
troduced into the plate several outline figures drawn from Mr. Kirby’s specimen of 
P. Fichtelii in lieu of the tracing from Donovan’s figure, which I had originally in- 
serted. On comparing these with the original figures which I have given of P . thora- 
cicus, other material specific differences will be perceived in addition to those stated 
above. The general shape of the antennae and the number of elevations on the ridge 
of the excavation of those organs are different ; the keel-like anterior margin of the 
clava is acute, and extends to the base in P. thoracicus; but in P. Fichtelii its anterior 
margin is obtuse and irregular. The front of the head is more emarginate in P. tho- 
racicus, and is more distinctly quadrate behind the eyes than in P. Fichtelii; whilst 
the excavation on the crown of the head of the latter is oval and much deeper than in 
P. thoracicus, in which it is somewhat square behind. The difference in the forma- 
tion of the thorax will at once be perceived; its posterior angles in P. thoracicus are 
dark piceous. The colouring of the elytra scarcely affords a specific character, neither 
of the species being so strongly marked as in Donovan’s figures; but in P . thoracicus 
the lateral margins of those organs are furnished with strong bristles, whilst in P. Fich- 
telii they are simply pubescent. 
Species 
