114 On the Coffee-horer 



two inches of earthy taken from round a coffee- tree. It 

 was towards evening when I liberated the beetles from 

 their dark narrow prison, and placed them in the glass ; 

 they were very lively, and I expected a strong light 

 would have now, if at all, a most startling effect upon 

 the insects ; but they remained perfectly indifferent, 

 and likewise during the following nights, when at dif- 

 ferent hours I approached the glass with a bright 

 lamp-light. The insects are therefore not nocturnal 

 or crepuscular like moths and flying ants, and light- 

 ing fires or hanging up lanterns, to attract and catch 

 them, is quite useless. The coffee-beetle, as I shall pre- 

 sently show, is most active during the hot hours of the 

 day, quiescent during the night, and rather so during 

 the cool hours of morning and evening. 



On Friday morning, the 4th October, I watched the 

 four pairs of beetles most attentively. To distinguish 

 them individually, I mutilated their legs in difi'erent 

 ways. The glass was kept in an open verandah, and 

 about nine o'clock, when the sunlight fell upon it, the 

 beetles set out to reconnoitre their terrain. They walked 

 about quite sprightly, ascended the stems, even marched 

 up and down the glass, and clambered over the uneven 

 soil, which, however, on account of their long and clawed 

 hind-legs, they found rather difficult to accomplish, and, 

 if upset, they could not easily turn over. The stem of 

 the coffee-tree they evidently enjoyed as their home. If 

 it were not for the calamitous ravages of the insects, one 

 would feel inclined to observe them with admiration. 

 They are pretty in appearance, elegant in form, attentive 

 to their toilette, smart in their movements, and easily 

 offended by an opponent, whom they attack unmercifully 

 with their horny mandibles. When together in close 

 quarters, they bite off each other's limbs in the struggle 

 for ascendancy. In a glass bottle, where I kept ten 

 beetles for three hours, I found the bottom covered like 

 a battle-field with mutilated limbs. They do not readily 

 take to their wings, but, though not constituted for long 

 flights, they can easily fly from one tree to another. 



After eleven o'clock, I observed their inclination to 

 that function of insect life, which seems to be the very 

 purpose of their existence in the perfect state. There 

 were at first only two pairs in activity, and the females 

 soon afterwards commenced depositing their eggs, 

 generally moving along \^dth the males superimposed ; 

 they are, however, not monogamous. The eggs are not 



