DISCOVERY OF THE CALOSOMA. 39 



M. Boisgerard, finding that some trees were being ravaged by 

 the caterpilhirs of the Gipsy Moth, placed upon the trees 

 several females of this Beetle, and simply left them. Next 

 year, the caterpillars appeared as usual, but in their nests were 

 the larvoe of the Calosoma, and in two or three years the de- 

 structive caterpillars were completely cleared off. 



I should not be at all surpi-ised if the insect could be em- 

 ployed in England for the same purpose. It would have plenty 

 of food among the caterpillar armies that occasionally devas- 

 tate certain localities ; and, if at first it coidd escape the 

 fingers of collectors, it might have a chance of becoming natu- 

 ralised here, and rendering tc. England the services which at 

 present it performs on the Continent. It is noteworthy that 

 the first recorded British specimen of this splendid insect was 

 captured at Aldborough, by Crabbe, the poet. 



ANOTnEK species of the same genus is found in England, and 

 is less rare than the preceding insect. This is Calosoma in- 

 quisitor. It is about three-quarters* of an inch iii length, and, 

 though a beautiful Beetle, is not so handsome as its larger 

 relative. A fine specimen now before me was captured by 

 myself in Bagley Wood, in the year 1846, at which time that 

 happy hunting ground of entomologists was open to all who 

 went there for entomological purposes, and did not disturb the 

 game. It had but lately emerged from the pupal state, and I 

 found it under a stone, where it was hiding itself until its soft 

 elytra had gained their hardness- It was so soft, indeed, that 

 I was almost afraid to handle it, lest its shape should be injured. 

 However, it soon became hard and glossy, and, never having 

 been exposed to injury, is a singularly perfect specimen. I 

 find in the MSS. of the late JNIr. Hope, which he kindly lent 

 me, that, in the summer of 1820, several were beaten out of 

 the foliage of oaks, and others dug from beneath the roots of 

 the same trees in the early spring. 



The colour of this Beetle is very beautiful. The head and 

 thorax are very deep bronze-green, and finely granulated, the 

 latter having a veiy deep pit on either side near the hinder 

 angle, and its edge being very bright blue-green. The elytra 

 are of a similar colour, and covered with striae. Each stria is 

 broken at short intervals with transverse lines, perceptible even 



