220 THE entomologist's IlECORD. 



times visible ; legs variable, sometimes rather short and stout, some- 

 times very long and slender, femora often clavate, tibiai generally 

 furnished with spurs at apex ; tarsi pseudo-tetramerous, o-jointcd, but 

 with the fourth joint very small and connate with the lifth, which is 

 slender, third joint bilobed, joints 1-3 (except sometimes on the posterior 

 pairs) usually furnished with thick pubescence underneath, claws 

 almost always simple, but rarely cleft or appendiculate." They are 

 called Lougicornia on account of the long autenns of most of them, 

 which, in some species, exceed the length of the body by three or four 

 times. They are all wood-feeders, and, consequently, arc to be met 

 with more fi-equently in wooded countries. In the tropics they play a 

 most important part in the economy of nature. If it were not for the 

 Longicornes the vast forests of the Amazons could not exist, as they 

 would become choked up with fallen trees. 



As soon as a tree begins to decay, or falls, the parent beetle lays 

 her eggs in it, and the larvge when hatched bore long galleries in the 

 solid wood ; the work of boring from these galleries being taken up by 

 smaller species of wood-feeding Coleoptera, rain is thus allowed to 

 freely percolate through the tree, reducing it to pulp, and instead of 

 choking up the forest, it eventually acts as manure to the other trees. 

 The larvte, which are large white fleshy grubs with strong mandibles, 

 take a long time to arrive at maturity, often extending over a period . 

 of many years. 



Mr. 0. 0. Waterhouse had a larva of a Lougicorne alive for five 

 years. It was first given to Mr. Waterhouse by a colonel, who 

 discovered there was something in one of his boot-trees. He had had 

 the boot-tree in use for fourteen years, the last seven having been spent 

 in India. Whether the larva was in the wood from which the boot- 

 tree was made at first, or whether it got there afterwards, is hard to 

 say ; however, when the larva worked its way out, Mr. Waterhouse 

 put it into a similar piece of wood, where it lived for five years ; the last 

 time it came out he exhibited it at a meeting of the Entomological 

 Society of London ; this appears to have been too much for it, as it died 

 shortly afterwards. I may mention that Mr. Waterhouse reared 

 another Longicorne, which he had in the larval state for six years. 



When full-fed the larva changes into a pupa in a cell, which it 

 forms near the surface of the wood. On hatching, the perfect insect 

 often remains for some time in its cell before making its escape, which 

 it does by eating its way out with its powerful jaws. 



The female Longicornes are larger and broader than the males, and 

 possess shorter antennas ; they are also not nearly so active. They 

 have a more or less well developed ovipositor, which can be protruded 

 to some extent like the joints of a telescope. With this instrument 

 they are enabled to deposit the eggs in the cracks of bark and similar 

 places suitable for the larva to be hatched. 



This family comprises some of the most beautiful and most curious 

 beetles in the world, more especially in the exotic species. I possess 

 a very extraordinary Brazilian Longicorne, Megahasis spccuUfer, 

 which has what may be described as a small looking-glass on each 

 elytron. Then there is the harlequin beetle, a large South American 

 species, Acrocinus longimanus, which has a variety of colours in squares 

 on its back, somewhat after the manner of a harlequin's dress ; the 

 front legs in the male, moreover, are enormously developed, being two 



