196 



INSECTS ABROAD, 



in flowers. Indeed, many of them are actually useful to man, 

 inasmuch as they are parasitic on the Coccus, or Scale Insect, 

 which is so injurious to many plants. 



Our first example of these Beetles is called Tophoderes frenatus, 

 and is a native of Madagascar. It is entirely black and white, 

 and must be almost invisible if clinging to a lichen-covered tree- 

 trunk. The surface is covered with variously sized and shaped 

 tubercles, all of which are black. Along either side of the head and 

 thorax runs a narrow yellowish white 

 stripe, which is continued over the 

 shoulders of the elytra. These stripes 

 really look very much like the reins 

 of a horse, and on their account 

 the specific name of frenatus, or 

 " bridled," has been given to the 

 insect. Below, the surface is rather 

 dull black, profusely and finely 

 punctated. The legs, like the body, 

 are parti-coloured, the thighs and 

 tarsus being black, and the tibia 

 white. 



The generic name of Tophocleres 

 refers to the peculiar black and white 

 colouring of the upper surface. It is 

 composed of two Greek words, the 

 latter of which means "a skin" or 

 external surface, and the other 

 signifies a kind of mottled stone, which is known to mineralo- 

 gists by the name of " tufa," or " tuff-stone," this being a corrup- 

 tion of the Greek tophos. The Latin word tophus is only 

 another form of the same word. 



Fig. 93.— Tophoderes frenatus. 

 (Black and white.) 



On looking at the figure of the last-mentioned insect, the 

 reader will probably notice that the antennae are much 

 lengthened. This elongation extends through many of the allied 

 species, some of which are so exactly like the Longicorn Beetles 

 that it is scarcely possible to imagine them to be Weevils. The 

 most remarkable species at present known of these long-horned 

 Weevils is that which is represented in the illustration on the 

 next page, and known by the name of Xevoccrus lineatus. 



