260 



INSECTS ABROAD. 



"^-•--j-jO. 



Fig. 126.— Metacycla Sallei. 

 (Black, with violet elytra.) 



it looks just like a ripe black currant. The elytra are violet ni 

 colour, thickly punctated, very short and rounded, and appear 

 like mere useless excrescences on the back of the insect. 



The male Metacycla is quite different in shape, the body Ijeintjj 

 quite twice as long as it is wide, and the elytra reaching to its 

 end. There are several species of this genus, 

 among which may be mentioned Metacycla 

 turgida, which is yellow, and has the elytra 

 decorated with six large black spots. Also 

 there are several allied genera, such as Mcta- 

 Icpta and RiLpilia. Some of these insects 

 might easily be mistaken for Kove Beetles, 

 their Ijodies being long and their elytra very 

 short. One of the most notable of them is 

 Rupilia rujicollis, a native of New Soutli 

 Wales. It derives its name of rnficoUi^i, 

 or " red neck," from the bright ruddy chest- 

 nut of its thorax, which hue extends to its 

 head. The elytra are blue in some specimens 

 and green in others^ and the abdomen is chestnut, like the thorax. 

 We have in England two little Chrysomelidse which present 

 exactly similar peculiarities. They belong to the genus Gastro- 

 physa, i.e. " swollen-belly," and may generally be found in the 

 common dock. 



The insect which is here repre- 

 sented is an exceedingly variable one, 

 especially in point of size, many 

 specimens being so small as to loolv 

 by the side of others like dwarfs be- 

 side giants. It also varies in colour. 

 The head and thorax are always 

 shining yellow, but the elytra are 

 sometimes green and sometimes 

 black, though, as the name of the in- 

 sect implies, they are mostly purple. 



This is a very large genus, containing some splendidly coloured 

 Beetles. Aplosonyx hasalis, a species which inhabits Manilla, is 

 curiously and boldly marked, the upper half of the elytra being 

 shining jetty black, and the lower half yellow. Another species, 



Flo. 1-27. — Aplosonyx inirpurasa'iis 

 (Yellow and purple. ) 



