150 INSECTS AT HOME. 



The forehead of the Cardinal Beetle is black, and there is a 

 curved rust-red mark between the eyes. The thorax and elytra 

 are rich scarlet, intensified by a short velvety down with which 

 the surface is covered. This insect is as plentiful as it is 

 handsome, and it may be captured throughout the summer. 

 It is often one of the inmates of the sweeping-net, after that 

 implement has been used among the flowers of hedgerows. 

 The larva is shown at Fig. a of Woodcut XV. It is whitish in 

 colour, and inhabits decaying willows. 



There are two other species of this genus, one of which, 

 Pyrochroa mbens, much resembles the preceding insect, but 

 may be distinguished by its head, which is entirely black, and 

 by the scutellum, which is black instead of red. 



Of the family of the Mordellidae we shall take two ex- 

 amples. These are very odd-looking Beetles, and can at once 

 be detected. The front part of the body is very large and 

 deep, and the body rapidly slopes away towards the tail, where 

 it ends almost in a point. The liead is bent down, and, v>hen 

 the insect is alarmed, is tucked under the thorax, so that it is 

 hardly visible. The first pair of legs are the shortest, then 

 come the middle pair, the hinder pair being the longest of all. 

 These Beetles are plentiful in the summer, and maybe found in 

 any numbers on the flowers of umbelliferge. The guelder rose 

 is also a favourite flower of theirs. In order to take them, the 

 best plan is to put the net under the flowers, and then tap the 

 flower-stem, when the insects will loosen their hold and fall 

 into the net. They are very active creatures, and in many in- 

 stances it is a good plan to make a swift, sweeping blow at the 

 flower, so as to cut it oft", and leave it, together with its insect in- 

 habitants, in the net. 



Our first example is Anaspis ruficollis, which is shovt'n on 

 Woodcut XVI. Fig. 2. In this genus the end of the abdomen 

 does not end in a pointed projection, or ' style,' and there is 

 a distinct scutellum ; the tarsi of the first and middle pairs 

 of legs have the last joint but one with two lobes, and the 

 hinder tibice have long spurs at their tips. The present species 

 is black, but covered with a short dusky down, the thorax 

 taking a warm-yellow tint. The mouth, base of antennae, and 

 legs are yellowish. This is a tolerably common species, and 



