254^ 



MODERN CLASSIFICATION OF INSECTS. 



Fig. 27. 



mm 



dilated at the sides, so as nearly to form a circle (Jiff. 27. 6. Lycus 

 prsemorsus, Africa). Their colours are gay, being generally fulvous or 

 scarlet, variegated with black ; the only British species is the 

 Lycus minutus F., belonging to the subgenus Dictyopterus, (^ff. 27* 

 3. ;Jiff- 4. the head; and Jiff. 5. one of the tarsi of the same) : it is 

 very^-are, but has been found upon the oak, in the neighbourhood of 

 London ; it is black, with scarlet elytra, and is a quarter of an inch 

 long. The larva of D, sanguineus L., a reputed British species, re- 

 sides, according to Latreille, under the bark of the oak ; it is linear, 

 flat, and of a black colour, except the last segment, which is red, 

 forming a flat plate, having its extremity furnished with two kinds of 

 cylindrical horns, apparently annulated and bent inwardly. Schonherr 

 (Synonymia Ins. vol. iii. App.) has described and figured numerous 

 species of Lycus. 



I possess a very remarkable larva from Java (Jiff. 27. 1. under side), 

 which I have no hesitation in referring to this family, from the manner 

 in which the head is entirely immersed in the cavity of the first tho- 

 racic segmeat, the form of the legs, and terminal segment ; when 

 alive, it would be at least two inches long ; I know not what insect it 

 would produce, but it must evidently be a gigantic species in the 

 group. As it exhibits no traces of luminous patches on the under 

 side of the body, I should think it would probably belong to some 

 species of Lycus ; it is scarcely thicker than a doubled card. Dr. 

 Perty has published a figure of this larva in his observations upon the 

 Coleoptera of Lidia, in which he doubtingly considers that it ought 

 rather to be ascribed to a Necrophagous than a Malacodermatous 

 insect. The body is nearly flat, and the first three segments very 

 much larger and broader than the rest, which are armed at the sides 

 with curved obtuse tubercles ; the anterior segment is notched in 



