Cuap. V. BEETLES. 107 
we see that the fact of some species not exhibiting the same adaptation 
of colours to dwelling-places as their companion species does not throw 
doubt on the explanation given of the adaptation, but is rather 
confirmatory of it. 
The carnivorous beetles at Caripi were, like those of Para, chiefly 
arboreal. Some were found under the bark of trees (Coptodera, 
Goniotropis, Morio, etc.), others running over the slender twigs, branches 
and leaves (Ctenostoma, Lebia, Calophzena, Lia, etc.), and many were 
concealed in the folds of leaves (Calleida, Agra, etc.). Most of them 
exhibited a beautiful contrivance for enabling them to cling to and run 
over smooth or flexible surfaces, such as leaves. Their tarsi or feet are 
broad, and furnished beneath with a brush of short, stiff hairs ; whilst 
their claws are toothed in the form of a comb, adapting them for 
clinging to the smooth edges of leaves, the joint of the foot which 
precedes the claw being cleft so as to allow free play to the claw 
in grasping. ‘The common dung-beetles at Caripi, which flew about in 
the evening like the Geotrupes, the familiar “‘ shard-borne beetle with 
his drowsy hum” of our English lanes, were of colossal size and 
beautiful colours. One kind had a long spear-shaped horn projecting 
from the crown of its head (Phanezeus lancifer). A blow from this 
fellow, as he came heavily flying along, was never very pleasant. 
All the tribes of beetles which feed on vegetable substances, fresh or 
decayed, were very numerous. The most beautiful of these, but not the 
most common, were the Longicornes; very graceful insects, having 
slender bodies and long antennz, often ornamented with fringes and 
tufts of hair. They were found on flowers, on trunks of trees, or flying 
about the new clearings. One small species (Coremia hirtipes) has a 
tuft of hairs on its hind legs, whilst many of its sister species have a 
similar ornament on the antennz. It suggests curious reflections when 
we see an ornament like the feather of a grenadier’s cap situated on one 
part of the body in one species, and on a totally different part in nearly 
allied ones. I tried in vain to discover the use of these curious brush- 
like decorations. On the trunk of a living leguminous tree, Petzell 
found a number of very rare and handsome species, the Platysternus 
hebreeus, which is of a broad shape, coloured ochreous, but spotted and 
striped with black, so as to resemble a domino. On the felled trunks 
of trees, swarms of gilded-green Longicornes occurred, of small size 
(Chrysoprasis), which looked like miniature musk-beetles, and, indeed, 
are Closely allied to those well-known European insects. 
I was interested in the many small kinds of lignivorous or wood-eating 
insects found at Caripi, a few observations on which may be given in 
conclusion. It is curious to observe how some small groups of insects 
exhibit the most diversified forms and habits—one set of species being 
adapted by their structure for one set of functions in nature, and another 
set, very closely allied, for an opposite sphere of action. Thus the 
Histeridee—small black beetles well known to English entomologists, 
most of whose species are short and thick in shape and live in the 
dung of animals—are most diversified in structure and habits in the 
Amazons region ; nevertheless, all the forms preserve in a remarkable 
degree the essential characters of the family. One set of species live in 
