C U R C U L I O R E G A L I S.
ROYAL CURCCLIO.
G EN E R IC CHARACTER.
Antennæ club-iliaped and inferted in a horny probofcis or fnout.
S P E C IF IC CHARACTER.
Roftrum ftiort. Blue changeable to green, velvety or like filk, with bands of rcddiili gold.
CuECULio R e g a l i s : breviroftris corpore viridi fericeo : fafdis aureis répandis. Lhm. Sjfi. N a t .2.Q\Q.~ 5,
Fah. Ent. Syß. T . I. p . 2. p. 4AQ. 234.
I f our ideas of the term regalis will permit its application to any infeft, we agree with Linnasus in the
appropriate, though pompous title bellowed on this fpecies o f Curculio. It is an aggregate o f beauty and
fplendour; o f the lovelieft ccerulean, changing alternately to the deeper glow o f die violet, to green, or
die tranfitory fparkling o f intermingled iilver. Every fpace o f blue is conftantly contrafted with another
of crimfon, and which as the violet changes to blue or green, alters its afp ed to a ftill more vivid expanfe of
gold. Each o f thofe colours, the blue and red, are diilinCt; for an irregular fpace o f black limits every
fpot and marking, and relieves the whole. As the effed o f fuch a combination o f colours in this comparatively
fmall fpecies is inconceivably fplendid, and almoit inimitable, one figure in the plate is intended
to lliow the natural fize, and to admit o f more perfedt delineation, another fomewhat magnified is
added alfo.
This iiifeft, which is believed to be unique in Great Britain, was brought from France in the collection
of M o n s . D e C a l o n n e , and is in the poireflion of the author. Linn«us met with it in one o f the
cabinets on th e continent, and defcribes it as a South American infeil. In the Entomologia SyfietnaUca
the error is corre6ted, and it ilands as an Indian fpecies.