266 



INSECTS ABROAD. 



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have its own separate hue of sparkling carmine or ultramarine 

 blue, so as to produce the beautiful colouring which has been 

 mentioned. The sides of the thorax are mostly yellow, but 

 sometimes red, and a band of the same colour runs completely 

 round each of the elytra, and also across its middle, so as to 

 form a sort of cross when they are closed. The thighs of all the 

 legs are of the same hue as the 

 edging of the elytra, except at 

 their ends, which are nearly black, 

 as are the tibiae and tarsi. 



This is a most variable insect, 

 some being scarcely half the size 

 of others, and the coloured edging 

 varying both in hue and dimen- 

 sions. In some specimens the 

 colour is bright king's yellow, in 

 others it is vermilion, while in 

 some the cross bar is wanting. 

 All, however, possess the coloured edge of the thorax and elytra 

 and the coloured legs. 



A remarkable instance of variation is found in another species 

 of the same genus, Alurnus thoracicus. This insect is generally 

 black, Avith a broad vermilion band across the middle of the 

 elytra. There is, however, a well-selected series in the British 

 Museum, in which the red band is progressively wider and 

 wider, until, in one or two insects, it spreads over the whole 

 of the elytra, leaving only a few little black dots scattered over 

 the surface as an indication of its normal hue. 



mus niarsiuatixs. 



