134 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



who has devoted much time to them and found many new 

 species, the most beautiful of which I was fortunate enough to 

 take a specimen, viz., Chrysis trinacria ; although not a collector 

 of Hymenoptera, it was such a lovely insect that I took it, and 

 was glad to have done so when I found out what it was. 



I was disappointed to find myself fully a month too soon for 

 the Lepidoptera, so devoted most of my time to Coleoptera, in the 

 acquisition of which I was very successful, bringing in daily from 

 200 to 300 specimens, mostly different, and many very minute. 

 Collecting in Sicily is indeed a pleasure, and well worth the four 

 days' journey from England ; the country, in sheltered spots, 

 seemed literally alive with insect-life, and, if it had not been for 

 the wind, would have been perfect. It seemed almost saere- 

 ligious, strolling among the remains of some grand Greek 

 temple left untouched for generations, and in quest of beetles, 

 overturning fragments of columns which had rested undisturbed 

 since the day they fell, yet such spots were often the most pro- 

 ductive of good species, notably the temples at Girgente. Sand- 

 hills on the coast produced many good things, so did the banks 

 of streams, especially the stream at Bella Strade. Cicindela 

 littoralis and var. nemoralis, and C.jlexuosa and var. circumflexa, 

 were to be seen running all over the mud-banks, and the curious 

 little Omophron limbatus. I found the best way to procure the 

 smaller species was to throw water on to the mud or sand, and 

 so drive them out ; but the best all-round collecting-ground is 

 the Favorita, at Palermo ; there are some open water-courses for 

 the purpose of irrigation, generally nearly dry, which produce 

 swarms of species. Sweeping was fairly productive, but search- 

 ing flowers more so. 



Mimicry among various orders of insects was very noticeable, 

 especially between the Arachnidae and Coleoptera, and I often 

 watched the spider, half-hidden in the centre of a flower, seize 

 the unfortunate beetle, who had evidently mistaken it for one of 

 its own species. The plant-bugs also resembled Coleoptera, 

 especially small Longicorns, though for what purpose I was not 

 able to find out ; probably for their own protection, or possibly 

 for the protection of the species they imitated. Although inte- 

 resting, yet one gets tired of being imposed on by insects one 

 cares nothing about, and, from a collecting point, mimicry is a 

 nuisance when it occurs to the extent it does in Sicily. 



