2 
MONOGRAPH OF THE 
The following are the chief characters of the fainilj'. 
PAUSSID^, Westw. (Pa?/As?7/,. Latr.; Pmissidesj h^ach.) 
Corpus oblongo-quadratum subdepressuui, rigidum. Caput subtriangulari-globosum porrectum, 
collo instructuTii, antcnnaj permagnic crass®, difforraes, articulis 2-10, articulo basali com- 
presso, parte reliqtia antennarum plus minusvc dcprcssa: labrura corneum poiTCCtum; raan- 
bul® falcal® come® aculro; maxill® lobo satis magno, tenui, apice dentato, palpi maxillares 
niagni. Labium corneum vcl coriaccuni: palpi labiales maximi. Thorax form® diverse. 
Elytra postice quadrata angulo externo apicali tubcrculo stepius instruct©. Pedes 
subffiqualcs breves compressi. Tarsi breves 5»articulati in pluiimis; articulis baud lobatis; 
basali s®pius miiiuto. Abdomen tlioracc multo majus et elytris longius, e segmentis 
4 constans, duobus intermediis multo brevioribus. 
A short notice of the history of this family will show the great 
increase which has been made in our knowledge of its contents. 
The genus Paussus was j^roposed by Linnaeus in 1*775, in a short 
paper, in the T>isscrtationes AcademiccB, in which he also described 
the genus Diopsis, and with which he terminated his entomological 
career. Of the former genus he knew only a single species. 
Thunberg, in 1781, described two more species of Paussus in 
the Swedish Transactions, in which work the genus Cerapterus 
was described by Swederus in 1778. In 1798, Afzelius published 
an excellent paper on the Paussi in the Linrifean Transactions, in 
which he described the then known species in detail, adding a new 
one. Donovan added several new species of Paussus, in the “Insects 
of India,’’ and a new Cerapterus in his “ Insects of New Holland,'' 
in which, for the first time, the relation existing between these two 
genera was noticed. One or two other species were added by 
Schdnher, Dalman, and Fabricius; those introduced by the last- 
named author not belonging to the family. In the various 
memoirs which I have published, the number of species has been 
increased four-fold, excluding several now proved not to belong to 
the family ; namely, those constituting the genus TrocJioideiis W. 
which, as shown by my dissections of one of the species published 
in the Transactions of the Entomological Society, is referable to 
the Endomychidm, and those wliich strictly belong to the sub-family 
of which Malachius is the tj^pe -j'. 
Of the habits of this family but little is known. The specimens 
of Paussus sph^rocerus captured by Afzelius at Sierra Leone, in 
^e months of January and February, were taken in houses by 
from Mada'rasc.'ir • 3. Troch 5 2. Troch. Dalmanni,y^^e%i\\., 
4. Troch. Ainericaniit Ttn^ ' c Guer, from the island of Mauritius; and 
of the Rev F AV Hone' f ^ Colombia. A 5lh unnamed species is in the collection 
t e Kev^ i . AA . Hope, from New Granada, probably identical wiEh T. Amerienus. 
chits vittatiis, Sav (Colics vittatus^Frilh 
. > v'^oiiops vittntus, Enchson, Megadeuterus Haworthii, AA^estw.) 
