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HARD WICKE 'S S CIENCE - G OSS IF. 



oppressor of us ! Of a certainty, never before did 

 Chrysomcla cause such a commotion in this country 

 or any other, let scholars argue as they may about 

 the golden apples of Paris or of the Hesperides : of 

 equal certainty is it, that no beetle ever before attained 

 such notoriety. Its biography has been faithfully 

 chronicled to the uttermost point ; its goings and 

 comings have been telegraphed and advertised ; a 

 Fellow of the Linnean Society has been sent by the 

 Government to certify its arrival at Liverpool ; it has 

 been photographed, lithographed, drawn on wood, 

 and otherwise depicted, in its natural size, and mag- 

 nified up to the dimensions of an ordinary cat ; it 

 has been modelled in wax and other materials ; it has 

 had books, pamphlets, and newspaper notices written 

 about it ad nauseam ; it has inspired leading articles 

 in the most powerful nevvspapers ; it has been the 

 subject of a large cartoon in Punch ; it has occupied 

 the serious attention of the Privy Council, and formed 

 a bone of contention for savans and demi-savans ; 

 and, finally, has attained the dignity of an Act of 

 Parliament, hurriedly pushed through the House of 

 Lords, for its special behoof. 



Entomologists, as a natural consequence of all this 

 popular excitement, are just now considering them- 

 selves less than usually unimportant ; and it would 

 seem an excellent opportunity for the patrons of art 

 and science who delight in South Kensington to 

 obtain the foundation of some Government office, 

 after the fashion of the American State Entomolo- 

 gists (only, of course, on a more lucrative scale, 

 in inverse ratio to the work), to which one of their 

 proteges could be duly appointed. The ordinaiy 

 duties could, without much difficulty, be discharged 

 after a careful study of Curtis's "Farm Insects" and 

 one or two other works of a like nature ; and the 

 country would then be at rest, should an invasion 

 by a foreign foe like that now imminent, ever again 

 occur. 



There can, however, be no doubt that earnest and 

 energetic steps should be taken at the present un- 

 precedented juncture, when the insect has succeeded 

 in effecting a lodgment in two inland parts of Ger- 

 many (though how that lodgment was effected we 

 have no particle of evidence), and specimens have, 

 after many false alarms, been proved to have at 

 last arrived on the British shores ; and it is with 

 the idea of furthering a knowledge of the outward 

 appearance of the dreaded beetle that the present 

 article is penned. The majority of our readers have 

 probably already formed a sufficient idea of it from 

 other sources ; but it is astonishing to what an extent 

 fear will paralyze the faculties of unscientific ob- 

 servers, causing them in the present instance to think 

 such vastly different insects as the common Tiger- 

 beetle {Cicindela campcstris), the Cockchafer {Mdo- 

 lontha vulgaris), the common banded burying-beetle 

 {N'ecrophorits vcspillo), the larva; and pupa; of lady- 

 birds (Coccitiella scptempimctata), &.C., to be the 



dreaded Colorado Beetle.* The following] figures, 

 therefore, may be of use : — 





-^-^ 



Fig. 138. Various stages. A, B, C, D, and JS, in the develop- 

 ment of the Colorado Potato-beetle, Doiyphora dccem- 

 lineata (Say). 



A is the perfect beetle, a male (in which the legs 

 and prehensile tarsi are more developed than in 

 the female), magnified about twice the natural size ; 

 B is the same insect seen sideways, and of the 

 natural size ; C is the full-grown larva (in shape 

 resembling somewhat our common "Bloody-nose 

 Beetle " ( Timarclia tenebrkosa) ; D is the pupa, and 

 E a batch of the yellow eggs. The beetle, when 

 alive, is of a yellowish cream-colour (lighter when 

 quite fresh), with five longitudinal black stripes on 

 each wing-case, and some dark spots and markings, 

 more or less confluent, on the thorax. The antenna; are 

 black, with the basal joints more or less orange, and 

 the legs are orange, with black knees and tarsi ; the am- 

 ple wings, seen when the insect flies, are, as in our com- 

 mon seaside dark purple species, Chrysomela luvmo- 

 pfera, rosy-red, especially along the nervures and upper 

 portion. The colours of the beetle become much 

 darker after death, and are entirely altered by im- 

 mersion in spirits or benzine ; and it is usually speci- 

 mens so treated that are in the hands of English 

 entomologists. It should also be observed that, ac- 

 cording to Riley, the ground-colour varies consider- 

 ably in specimens from different parts, from deep 

 gamboge-yellow to almost pure white. The beetle 

 appears also to vary much in size, marks of thorax, 

 elytra, and legs, &c. , according to the same authority. 

 The larva may be described as Venetian-red, inclining 

 to cream-colour, or rosy-red, slightly yellowish be- 

 hind the head, which, with the back of the thoracic 

 plate, the legs, two rows of conspicuous spots on the 

 sides, and some other minute black dots, are black. 



* Instances of all these mistakes have come under the writer's 

 personal notice. 



