Cleridae also include some very pretty little insects. Few 

 Longicorns for their size exceed in elegance of form or beauty 

 of subdued colour such species as Hexairichia pulverulenta ¥., 

 Coptonima variegatum F. (both of which, like Teramocerus 

 barbicornis, have in recent years become very much less 

 common than formerly), the apple-green Calliprason sinclniri 

 White, and especially the little flower-frequenting members 

 of the genus Zorion; while the large and rare Blosyropus 

 spinosus Redt. of the South Island is one of the most quaint- 

 looking beetles even in New Zealand. It is in the Rhyncho- 

 phora, however, that we find the most singular and diversified 

 forms of the endemic Coleoptera. The members of the small 

 sub-family Scolopterinae {Nyocetes, Ancistropterus, Scoloptenis, 

 etc.) present a little assemblage of knobbed and spinose 

 weevils of most distinctive appearance, quite unlike any 

 forms from elsewhere, and the species of Stephanorrhynchus, 

 Hoplocneme, and Rhadinosomtis, to name only a few, are 

 hardly less bizarre in aspect. Metallic or bright colours are 

 ra,re in this family here, but a large number of species are of 

 neat and attractive appearance, and the members of the 

 genera Rhynchodes, Agathinus, Lyperobius, Phaedrophilus , and 

 some other forms recently discovered in the mountains of 

 the South Island at considerable elevations, are decidedly 

 handsome insects. 



Comparatively few of the beetles are individually numerous, 

 the Cicindelidae forming one exception ; Cicindela tuberculata F. 

 in the North Island, and C. latecincta White in the South, are 

 to be seen everywhere on roadsides and dry banks in summer, 

 and are familiar to the youth of the Dominion under the 

 curious name of " New Zealand bees." Only a few species 

 may be regarded as in any way injurious to agriculture or 

 otherwise, but the brilliant little " chafer " Pyrouota festiva F. 

 has been known to work considerable havoc with the blossoms 

 of fruit-trees, and cereal crops and pastures are sometimes 

 greatly damaged by the larvae of one or two species of the 

 Melolonthid genus Odontria. The huge white larvae of Prio- 

 noplus reticularis, called " huhu " by the Maoris, and greatly 

 esteemed by them as an article of food, live in the timber of 

 the Kauri and other Conifers, but the trees are probably 



