332 TRANSFOHMATIONS OF INSECTS. 



are making lace work of the leaves, and the beetles are crawling 

 upon the plants. This hanging up of the nymph resembles the 

 favourite position of many chrysalides of the ' Lepidoptera, and 

 it is somewhat remarkable that another genus of these beetles 

 has larvae which construct movable tubes, in which they live, 

 and which they carry about after the fashion of many caterpillars. 



The last family of the order of the Coleoptera that comes 

 under our notice is that of the Coccinellidcs, or the Lady Birds, 

 These are great favourites with children, and even with col- 

 lectors ; and popular sympathy is extended towards them, and 

 certainly very properly, for they do .much good by preventing 

 the excessive multiplication of plant lice, and, moreover, they 

 are very pretty things. The lady birds with seven spots {Cocci- 

 nella septcvipiinctata) are very common in Europe, and, indeed, 

 in Asia, Africa, and America. They are small insects, which 

 are so well known that they need not be described, but it may 

 be often noticed that when they are alarmed or laid hold of 

 they fold up their limbs and eject from the joints a yellow 

 mucilaginous fluid, which has a very disagreeable odour. Immense 

 swarms of these insects are sometimes observed, especially on the 

 south-eastern coasts of England, and they have been described 

 as extending in dense masses for miles. The adult insects do 

 not eat much, but the larvae consume enormous quantities of 

 the little insects which are so injurious to vegetation, and they 

 may be seen chasing, or rather creeping up to, the plant lice, 

 and eating one after the other, taking the whole set on a leaf 

 or stem in regular order. The larva is of a lead grey colour, 

 and has a broad yellow spot in front of the head, three little 

 red spots on the sides, besides black spots and Httle bunches 

 of hairs. When about to undergo its transformation the insect 

 attaches itself to a leaf just like the caterpillar of a butterfly. 



In the engraving on page 331 the ladybirds are seen upon the 

 leaves in the centre. There are two larvae on the right hand and a 

 nymph on a solitary leaf above the others. 



