( igo ) 



CHAPTER XI, 



POLYMORPHA (contmued)— Family BUPRESTIDAE. 



Fig. 126. — CatoxantJia bicolor, Fabr. Burma and Assam. 



The Buprestidae, or buprestid beetles, are well known, owin^ to the 

 brilliant metallic colouring of many of the members of the family. This 

 brilliancy is not merely to be found on the elytra, but often extends to the 

 whole of the insect both dorsally and ventrally, greens, blues, reds, purple,, 

 copper, and yellows being found, the shades being light or dull to black. 

 In India the brilliant outer wing-cases have a peculiar fascination for a 

 people naturally addicted to bright colours, and they are used in adorning 

 various articles of apparel, and even employed as caste marks in the south. 

 The beetles are nearly always covered, when alive, with a white, yellow- 

 ochreous, or reddish 

 purulence, often mis- 

 taken for the pollen 

 of flowers, and this 

 is sometimes retained 

 by a pubescence 

 which may entirely 

 clothe the insect or be placed in thick patches in depressions and foveae. 



The beetles vary in size, the length averaging from i mm. to 70 mm. 

 The shape is usually what is known as torpedo-shape. 

 Beetle. varying from ovoid elongate to navicular, pentagonal, or 



sub-triangular, the greatest width being usually at the 

 shoulder, whilst they are constricted behind, the elytral apices being often 

 spined. The head is short and vertical, embedded in the prothorax to the 

 eyes, the latter being elliptical, and either parallel or set obliquely, the 

 upper or lower ends approaching one another. The 

 antennae are of importance in the classification of the 

 family ; they are inserted on the front of the head, are 

 eleven-jointed and serrate, the joints being furnished 

 with pores diffused on one or both faces, or concen- 

 trated in a fovea on the lower margins or at the 

 extremit}-. 



The mandibles are short, stout, and thick. The 

 prothorax is variously shaped, more usually transversal 

 and cylindrical - conical, the anterior and posterior 

 margins being straight or bisinuate or emarginate or 

 the latter with a median lobe, the sides often oblique 

 Pjq j^- or rounded. The scutellum is very variable, and is 



Buprestid Antennae. sometimes invisible (Chrysochroa). The elytra entirely 



