178 INSECTS ABROAD. 



Most of the Beetles which we are now examining are slow, 

 sluggish, and dull hlack, or at all events sombre in hue, and so 

 constant a character is this duluess that some systematic ento- 

 mologists have gathered them into a general group under the 

 name of Melasoma, or " black-bodied." These insects are indeed 

 the typical representatives of the Heteromera ; and as some of 

 them are of considerable size, the structure of the foot can be 

 arrived at without difficulty. 



The family of the Blapsidje is familiar to all Englisli entomo- 

 logists on account of our familiar insect the Cellar Beetle, or 

 Churchyard Beetle {Bla2'>s mucronata), which, as its popular 

 name imports, is to be found in dark and damp places. 



Pig. 83.— Blaps polyehrestos. 

 (Dull black, washed with purple.) 



All the Blapsidte are so much alike in their habits that the 

 description of one species will equally serve for others, no matter 

 what may be their country. Of their own will they are never 

 seen in the daylight, and even in their own familiar darkness 

 they have no liveliness, but crawl sluggishly about with great 

 deliberation, slowly lifting one leg after another, and reminding 

 the observer of the gait of a tortoise. . With such liabits it is 

 evident that they cannot need wings, and accordingly they are 

 entirely without organs of flight, their elytra being so firmly 

 soldered together that they cannot be separated without injury. 



These Beetles emit an odour which is singularly unpleasant, 

 and so peculiar as almost to baffle description. It is not like 

 that of the larger Eove Beetles, of the Burying Beetles, or the 

 Ground Beetles, but is a sort of mixture of them all, together 



