196 



Photo hyj [H. Main, F.IuS. 



Chrysalis of Musk-Beetle. 



In this photograph, which is twice the 

 actual size of the chrysaHs, most of the 

 parts of the future beetle may be seen 

 clearly. The hmb-joints are folded, and 

 the wings are laid along the front with 

 the antenns laid over them and their 

 slender tips curved up. 



Marvels of Insect Life. 



our much smaller stag-beetle, thouori 

 lul antennae of the Indian beetle, 

 different appearance. Its grub is of enorinoq^ size, avA 

 bores into the trunk of the mango-trep. Such succulent 

 morsels as these long-horn grubs arc irksome parts used b\' 

 tlie natives as food. Our own taninr ' i- a l,ii:_;c iHttlc, as 

 long as the musk-beetle, but much wider. The grub is 

 more than two inches in length, and attacks oaks aiKl 

 other trees. 



l)Ut these giants are mostly of dark-brown colour, 

 and, therefore, in spite of their size, are less conspicuous 

 than some of their small, but brilliantlv coloured relations. 

 There is, for example, our violet beauty "^ that bores into 

 pinewood. In length of body it measures only half an 

 inch, but the colour with wliich it is entirely covered is 

 the deepest, darkest blue. This may not sound like 

 brilliance ; but the surface is so roughened that the light 

 catches all the minute projections and makes them gleam. 

 A slightly smaller beetle,^ found on the Continent, is of 

 a brighter blue, but might easily be mistaken for it, if 

 the larger, rather globular fore-body of the \iok't beaut\- 

 did not ofter a mark of eas\' distinction. 



Bird-winged Butterflies. 



In the tropics of the Old World there are found several species of butterflies 

 which at once attract attention in a museum or private collection on account of 

 their superior size. When the wings are expanded to their full extent, as the 

 collector likes to dispose them, these measure from tip to tip of the fore-wings some- 

 thing between six and nine inches. As these wings are rather slender in proportion 

 to their length, and the outer margin is scalloped, they suggest some sort of 

 resemblance to the wings of a bird. Unfortunately, in spite of their size and striking 

 coloration, very little is known about them, the collectors who have been sent 

 out to the countries where they are found, having been more anxious perhaps to 

 secure large numbers of the butterflies than to discover their earlier stages. The 

 males have the more brilliantly coloured wings, and the colour-note is one of strong 

 contrast. The wings will be heavil\- framed in l^lack, whilst on the fore-wings the 

 nervures are margined with gre\', or a serit'S of bold, green splashes cross the wing. 

 The hind-wings have the margins and the ner\'ures lined in black, whilst the si);ues 

 between the nervures are coloured with bright yellow or orange. In others it is 

 violet or purple that is brought into use with the black. 



One of the best known of these is Brooke's bird-wing,^ of the Malay Peninsula, 

 Malacca, Borneo, Sumatra, etc. Great numbers ol the male have been imported 

 to this country, often for purposes of mere decoration, but the temales are ex(-eedingly 

 scarce, one rapacious collector rej)orting that in three months, during which he 

 captured eight hundred males, he could not obtain a single female, lie atlds that 



1 Prioiuis loiiariiis. - Ctillidiiim violacL'iiiu. ■' Paclisla viiLiinca. ' OrnillioplLra bioDkcaiia. 



