State Agricultural Society. 
521 
which were new to him, in the collection of Mr. Ilerschel.* W e 
know not whether those specimens are still preserved, whereby it 
will be possible to conclusively determine the point in question. 1*8 
there any other mode in which it is possible for us to obtain light 
upon this subject ? We observe that in the phrase “ head ferrugin¬ 
ous antennae black,” the terms head and black impress the mind more 
strongly than the terms antennae and ferruginous, and thus there is a 
tendency to bring them together. We also observe that this great 
master of our science, Fabricius, was by no means so careful and exact 
that we can confide in the descriptions he has left us as being always 
accurate and free from errors. Of this inadvertency we are at present 
forcibly reminded, from a fruitless endeavor to ascertain the correct 
orthography of the person’s name in whose collection he met with 
this insect. Upon glancing through the Ent. Syst. suppl. and the 
Syst. Eleut. we meet with this name in sixteen instances, and find it 
given as Hirshel, Hirshell, Ilirschel, Herschel and Ilersehell, it occur¬ 
ring five times under the first and five times under the fourth form. 
And now, when we come to attentively consider the characters 
which are assigned to Uneatus , we shall discover them to be so con¬ 
tradictory as to render it evident there is an error in the description. 
As already stated, the species is first briefly defined as ferruginous, 
with the thorax and wing covers yellow lined with black. We are 
next informed that the head is black. Thus we are told that the head 
is black, the thorax and wing covers yellow, and yet the predominant 
color is ferruginous. The latter statement is obviously inconsistent 
with the former. We find further, that the only parts mentioned as 
being ferruginous are the antennae, the anterior part of the thorax and 
the body on its under side. If we paint a specimen of our insect 
with the head black and the antennae rusty yellow, whereby it fully 
meets the details of this description, the ferruginous anterior border 
of the thorax becomes so inconspicuous that it is only noticed upon a 
* Wo notice that one of these is named Cicindela obscura. This species of Fabricius appears to 
have been overlooked by recent writers. From the short definition of it in the Syst. Eleut. 1, 238, 
Mr. Say supposed it to be the species which is now currently known as the G. modesta of Beauvois. 
But the original description, Ent. Syst. suppl. p. 61, informs us that the obscura corresponds in size 
with C. Qennanica. Specimens of the latter iixsect now before me are much smaller than the 
modesta. We are also told that of the two white marginal points, the anterior one is on the base of 
the wing covers, whereas in modesta it is on the outer margin near the base. Thus the species 
which Mr. Say describes as the oteetira is clearly a different insect from that to which Fabricius gave 
this name. What is stated of the latter as to size, color, position of the white points and the lnnulo 
at the tip, coincides with none of our Cicindelas except some varieties of the punctulata of Olivier. 
This species is described by Fabricius in this same connection,under the name tnicans , of which he 
remarks, it is exactly the size of obscura , of which it is perhaps a mere variety. It thus becomes 
quite evident that the obscura of Fabricius is nothing but one of tho bluck varieties of punctulata 
in which the white points on tho wing covers are mostly effaced. 
[Au.] 66 
