( 607 ) XXXIV. On the Paussida, a Family of Coleopterous Insects. By Mr. J. O. Westwood, F.L.S. Read June I, 1830. Influenced by the desire which every naturalist ought to entertain, that the treasures of Nature collected and discovered by his countrymen, or added to our museums and cabinets through their zeal and assiduity, should also be made known by fellow-naturalists of his native rather than of foreign coun-tries, (although for the advancement of science it might even be wished that these treasures, rather than remain unnoticed and undescribed, should be thrown open to the examination of and be described by foreign naturalists ;) and considering it the duty of every member of the Linnean Society to add his mite, however scanty, to the stores of knowledge which are recorded in its Transactions, — it was my intention, on becoming ac-quainted with the interesting nondescript insect, subsequently described under the name of Pentaplatarthrus Paiissoides, merely to have offered to the Society its description, with a few ob-servations upon its affinities, to prove its relationship to the Paussida, one of the most interesting families of Coleopterous insects. On discovering, however, in our cabinets, in addition to this new genus, not only several other undescribed species belonging to the family, but also such a variation of structure in some of the known species as to warrant their separation from Paussus, and finding that confusion had been introduced into the nomenclature even of the few species composing the VOL. XVI. 4 I family,
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