74 OCCASIONAL PAPERS. 



wings lay loosely by the side of the body, which was 

 on its back. A small cavity had been formed in the 

 soil in the usual way, the sides ot which were made 

 quite compact by the pressure of the body, and at 

 one end lay the cast-off skin, the antennae were full 

 size, but these, like the legs, were pink, much 

 deeper in shade than the body. On July 22nd I 

 disinterred another, almost perfect, but the body was 

 still soft and pink, while the elytra were of their 

 proper hue : a second specimen was still without the 

 wing cases. The first imago emerged July 30th, 

 and this was soon followed by others. 



The perfect insect is very ovate in appearance and 

 firm in consistency, the under surface and also the 

 legs are of a glistening metallic dark blue, the elytra 

 are nearly black, as is also the head and thorax. It 

 is placed in the family CHRYSOMELIDJE, and in the 

 genus Timarcha, though formerly it was called a 

 Tcncbrio : the specific name is tenebricosa , or more 

 lately Iceciyata : the latter term is preferable as it 

 serves more directly to contrast it with the other 

 species in the same genus coriaria. The elytra are 

 soldered together longitudinally ; and when they are 

 forced open the Beetle is found to be wingless ; it is 

 thus totally incapable of flight, and is the largest 

 vegetable feeding insect in England so constituted. 

 The tarsi are very broad, and afford it the power of 

 taking a firm hold of the herbage over which it 

 crawls. At night it rests clinging to stems with its 

 head downwards ; they are difficult to discover in the 

 early morning, being covered with heavy dew, and 

 looking more like dry seeds than anything else ; as 

 soon as the heat of the sun has caused all the mois- 



