HABITS OF THE TACHYTES. 469 



of its size, wliicli is very niucli greater than that of any- 

 other species. At first sight it is not a very handsome insect, 

 but a careful inspection shows beauties, which do not appear at 

 first. The whole of the body is black, but each segment of the 

 abdomen is marked by a slight edging of very short silvery pile, 

 looking as if a fine line of silver had been drawn round it. The 

 eyes are large, and round them is drawn a line of short hairs of 

 a rich golden lustre. There is also a patch of similar hair in the 

 front of the face, between the eyes. The wings are brown, with a 

 very strong blue gloss. 



Of all the species, I think that Larrada hmmorrlioidalis of 

 Australia is by far the handsomest. The golden pile, which in 

 the preceding species is confined to the head, is spread over the 

 entire body, and the effect is singularly beautiful, the play 

 of light and shade being just like that of the richest velvet. The 

 thorax has apparently two brown stripes, but when the light is 

 changed the stripes become golden, and the rest of the thorax 

 brown. The wings are shining yellow, tipped with brown. 



The name Tacliytes is taken from a Greek word signifying 

 " rapidity," and is given to the insects of the genus on account of 

 their exceeding swiftness both on the ground and in the air, and 

 their constant restlessness. 

 There is a British species, 

 Tacliytes unicolor, which is 

 so swift that it can hardly 

 be captured. 



As its name imports, the 

 present species inhabits 

 China. Tt is the largest of 

 all the known species, and 

 is coloured very much like 

 our hive bee, except that a 

 fine line of silvery pile grows 

 on the edges of the segments '-■ ^^'^7^^ ^^vnT"^ 



of the abdomen. The wings 



are pale yellow. It is a very large genus, and, like Larrada, 

 extends over all parts of the world. All the species of whose 

 life-history anything is known have very similar habits. 

 They make burrows in the ground, lay their eggs in them, and 



