COLEOPTERA. — BUPRESTID-T:. 229 



the stimulating properties of the Cantharides, being also, as Pliny says, 

 " Scarabaeis simillimum," the suggestion can scarcely be well founded 

 Moreover, the insect which Belon discovered on mount Athos, having 

 similar properties, was in his time termed by the inhabitants Voupristi, 

 a name almost identical with the ancient names given above of the 

 Buprestis. Hence, as well as from the still more explicit observation 

 of Belon, that the Voupristi was " Cantharidi similis sed major, colore 

 flavo vel luteo," the opinion of Messrs. Kirby and Spence (first sug- 

 gested in fact byLatreille)appears the most tenable. Linnaeus, however, 

 notwithstanding its evident impropriety, applied the name of Buprestis 

 to the harmless insects composing the present family, which Geoffroy , 

 with considerable tact, termed Cucujus, a name used by the Romans 

 to designate an insect of a golden green colour ; the Linngean nomen- 

 clature has, however, prevailed ; but Fabricius and Olivier completed 

 the confusion, by giving the name of Cucujus to obscure insects 

 belonging to a very different family described above under that name. 



Until within the last year or two, owing to the majority of these 

 splendid insects inhabiting tropical regions, but little information has 

 been procured relative to their natural history and preparatory states. 

 Madame Merian, in her work upon the insects of Surinam, plate 50., 

 has represented the Buprestis gigantea accompanied by a large white 

 fleshy larva, with a curved body, resembling the larvae of the Stag-beetle, 

 having six legs, no antennae, and the extremity of the body rounded and 

 entire. It was found under ground, feeding upon the root of Convol- 

 vulus batatas ; and from it the Buprestis is asserted to have been 

 reared. As it is, however, so different from the now known larvae of 

 the Buprestidae^ and as, in all probability, the transformations are un- 

 dergone in wood, the trunks of trees, &c., I fear that the authoress 

 must have fallen into some error, although it must be observed that 

 the same plate contains figures of Passalus in the larva and perfect 

 state, the correctness of which has been ascertained. 



In the collection of the Rev. F. W. Hope are preserved several 

 specimens of a larva {fig. 23. 12.), sent from Brazil, in company with 

 B. attenuata {Kirby, L. Trans.), being about an inch and a half long, 

 cylindric, somewhat fleshy, not incurved, with the antennae and or- 

 gans of the mouth short ; the legs of moderate length, but only four 

 in number, and attached in pairs to the second and third segments, 

 the fourth segment being also furnished with what may be regarded as 

 the rudiments of another pair of legs, of very small size, and appearing 



Q 3 



