LADY-BIRDS. 217 



genus, Coccinella, has the hinder angles of the thorax acute. 

 Many species of these pretty insects inhabit England, but some 

 of the species are so exceedingly variable in point of colour, 

 that the varieties have been described as actual species by 

 practised entomologists. It is common enough to find a blue 

 insect running into shades of green, and vice versa ; but in 

 some of these Lady-birds, the same species will be red spotted 

 with black, black spotted or blotched with red, black spotted 

 with yellow, yellow spotted and barred or blotched with black, 

 and so on in infinite variety. 



We will now briefly describe two species, one a rarity and 

 the other a very common one, and then proceed to the habits 

 of the insect. On Woodcut XXIV. Fig. 1, is represented a 

 very beautiful insect, which we may call the Eyed Lady-bikd 

 {Coccinella ocellata). The head and thorax of this species are 

 black, and on the latter are two yellow spots at the base and a 

 patch of the same colour at each side. The elytra are red, 

 and upon each elytron are nine black spots, more or less oval, 

 each of them surroimded with a ring of yellow, giving them 

 the ' eyed ' appearance which is expressed by the specific 

 name ocellata. There is also a black, yellow-edged streak 

 over the apex of the elytra. Several varieties of colouring- 

 are known. This insect has been found upon the pine, the fir, 

 and the beech. 



On Plate VI. Fig. 12, is drawn the common Seven-spot 

 Ladt-bird {Coccinella septempunctata), a species that derives 

 its name from the seven black spots upon the elytra. These 

 spots are exceedingly variable in size, and sometimes one or 

 two spots are absent, while there is one variety in which there 

 are no spots at all. It is represented in flight, in order to 

 show the large size of its wings. 



Beautiful as are the Lady-birds, it is not for their beauty 

 alone that they are valued, inasmuch as they are among the 

 greatest benefactors of civilised man, and preserve many a 

 harvest which, but for their aid, would be hopelessly lost. For, 

 in their larval state they feed upon the aphides — the ' green 

 blight ' or ' green-fly ' of gardeners — and, being exceedingly 

 voracious, devour vast numbers of those destructive insects. 

 Few persons w\"»uld suppose, on looking at the Coccinella larva, 

 what was it? real condition of life. It looks as harmless, dull, 



