ENTOMOLOGY COLEOPTERA. 313 



have been perforated by insects. (Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr. ii. 

 Bull, xx, xxivj xxxii. Revue Zool. 90.) 



This has been observed with soft metals only, commonly lead, in one 

 instance type metal, and in circumstances where the insect had to make its 

 way through the metal in order to escape from the lair of the pupa. The 

 instances mentioned are briefly these : 1. Audouiu had a sheet of lead sent 

 'him, part of the sheathing of a vessel, which the larva; of Callidimh had 

 gnawed into numerous and deep cavities. 2. Emy saw, at Rochclle, entire 

 pieces of a leaden roof not only gnawed, but absolutely perforated, by 

 Bosfrichi. 3. Stephens found beams quite eaten away by the larvae of 

 Callidium bajulus, though lined with lead, and holes in the metal, which he 

 took to be the burrows of -Callidia. 4. The Marquis de Breine exhibited to 

 the Entomological Society at Paris a number of cartridges from the arsenal 

 at Toulon, the paper at one end of wliich was perforated, and the ball eaten 

 away to a depth of 4-5 millimetres [about a line, more or less.] One of the 

 barrels was greatly eaten away, but when it was opened no trace of the 

 insects was discovered inside. 5. Du Boys noticed a printer's foi'm, from 

 Limoges, that had been pierced with two deep galleries, in which Apate 

 cajnicina was found. Lastly, Desmarest shut up two individuals of Callidium 

 an I/// /lineum in thin vessels of lead, in such a manner that they were separated 

 by the bottom of one of the vessels ; in a few days this was found pierced 

 through, and the two beetles together. At the end notice is taken of an- 

 other case mentioned by Blainville, and stated to have been observed by 

 Dr. Piccioni, of Corsica; that Cetonia Car dm, Dej., having made its way into 

 Dr. Piccioni's beehives, where it was eating up the wax and honey, in order 

 to keep it out sheets of lead were placed in front of the hives, with orifices 

 only large enough for the bees to pass through ; but in a short time he 

 perceived that the beetles had attacked the lead, and enlarged the openings 

 so as to get admission into the hives again. Sheets of zinc were then sub- 

 stituted, and they proved too hard for the Cetonice. Desmarest doubts, 

 with reason, whether their soft jaws could make any impression on the 

 lead either. The question had been put to him whether the insects in these 

 instances swallowed the metal. To assure himself on this point he had the 

 Apate, found in the printing form, chemically analysed, when no trace of 

 lead was discovered. 



COLEOPTERA. 



Schiodte (Germ. Zeitschr. v, 474") has made some observations on the 

 structure of the abdomen in Colcoptera. 



He shows, in particular, that when the segments of the abdomen are taken 

 into the systematic character, the shield of the cloaca ought to be excluded 



