612 
Mr. J. O. Westwood on the Paussidce , 
appears to me unsuccessfully, to establish the passage from the 
weevils to the capricorn beetles. In the first and last of these 
works the Paussidce are placed between the Scolitaires and Bos- 
trichini; and in the second, between the Bostrichini and the Tro- 
gositarii. When we consider the very discordant structure of the 
insects composing these families, — of which Mr. MacLeay has 
well observed in the Anmdosa Javanica, that they at present form 
a most artificial assemblage, — it cannot be a matter of surprise 
that the situation of the Paussidce should have been subject to such 
continued change. It cannot, however, be denied, that it is one 
of the most difficult, although most interesting tasks of the natu- 
ralist, and one in which (from the great number of links which 
remain to be discovered,) the greatest caution is requisite to 
trace the affinities of such anomalous animals as these, espe- 
cially when they have been employed to effect the transition 
between extensive groups of very distinct structure. 
Of the impropriety of Latreille’s location of the majority of 
the insects composing these various families between the Curcu - 
Uonidce and Cerambijcidce, and upon their decided affinities with 
many of the J Secrophaga of MacLeay, especially the Eugidce, I 
shall refer the student to the various remarks of that author upon 
the genera of the latter family in the Anmdosa Javanica. To him 
the praise is due for pointing out these affinities, which Latreille 
himself appears willing to admit in the new edition of the Begne 
Animal, vol. v. p. 89. n. 4, where, speaking of the joints of the 
tarsi of his family Xylophagi, comprising all these subfamilies, he 
says : “ Leur nombre parait etre de cinq dans quelques. Ces 
insectes semblent se Her avec les Cryptophages et autres in- 
sectes analogues de la section des Pentameres.” 
The student may also consult with advantage Curtis’s Bri- 
tish Entomology, genera Cryptophagus , Mycetophagus, Tetra- 
toma, Ciconis, and Bitoma. I cannot, however, here omit to 
remark, 
