130 INSECTS ABROAD. 



Ill temperate climates, such as our own, trees are compara- 

 tively few and their size comparatively small, and, in conse- 

 quence, the Rose Beetles and their kin are quite large enough 

 for the task which they have to perform. But in those lands 

 where vegetation absolutely runs riot, where not only are the 

 trees of gigantic dimensions, but the forest tracts are measured 

 by thousands of square, miles, the Beetles have a proportionately 

 great task to perform, and are therefore not only multitudinous 

 in number, but huge in size. Nothmg but these gigantic larvae 

 could consume the enormous annual supply of decaying wood, 

 and it is therefore in the heavily-timbered districts where they 

 are most found. 



We shall do well to treasure up those Dynastidre, which have 

 already become rare. I am sure that in course of time the 

 Dynastidai will suffer the same fate as has befallen the wild 

 beasts of many countries, and that they will be driven further 

 and further away from the habitations of men, until those 

 species which are now common have become scarce, and the 

 rarer species have perished altogether. 



All the Dynastidae are remarkable for the enormous develop- 

 ment of the thorax and head with horny projections. If the 

 reader will refer to Plate II. Fig. 2, he will see an admirable 

 example of the Dynastidse, called, from its great strength, 

 Di/nastes Hercules. " In this insect the upper part of the thorax 

 is prolonged into a single horn, so that the thorax is twice as 

 long as. the abdomen. This horn is curved downwards. The 

 head is prolonged into a similar horn which is curved upwards, 

 so that the head and thorax look like two enormous jaws, 

 instead of being, as they are, two distinct parts of the insect. 

 Indeed, on showing this Beetle to persons who were unac- 

 quainted with entomology, I have had great difficulty in per- 

 suading them that the thorax was not the upper and the head 

 the under jaw, and have generally had to point out the real 

 jaws of the insect before they could understand so strange a 

 formation. 



The whole under surface of the thorax-horn is clothed with a 

 ridge of dense, stiff, short, golden yellow hairs, the object of 

 which I have never been able even to conjecture, and a quantity 

 of similar hair is on the under surface and edges of the abdomen. 

 The tliorax, head, and legs are shining black, and the elytra are 



