172 BRITISH BEETLES. 



the Longicorns, to members of which section the per- 

 fect insects also present a certain likeness. 



Ischnomera melanura, not unlike a large Telephones, 

 is found at the seaside; it is testaceous with the apex 

 of the elytra black, and is especially noteworthy from 

 the fact of its male possessing twelve joints to the an- 

 tennae, though the female has the normal number. It 

 flies strongly in the hot sunshine, and is often taken on 

 old posts on the shore; the larvae even living in timber 

 that is periodically covered by the tide. 



Dry ops femorata, the largest of the family, is a very 

 graceful, slender insect, with very long and thin an- 

 tennae. Its male is distinguished by the peculiar for- 

 mation of the hinder legs, which have the femora much 

 inflated and arched, and the tibiae angulated at the 

 base. It is nocturnal in its habits, and occurs some- 

 what freely at ivy blossom and sallow bloom, both in 

 the autumnal and spring months. 



In (Edemera c&rulea (Plate XI, Fig. 2), a small, me- 

 tallic, bright blue or green species, found abundantly in 

 flowers during the summer months, in the hot part of 

 the day, the male exhibits a similar formation of the 

 hinder legs to that of Dryops. 



Mycterus curculionides, once taken in England (by 

 Mr. T. V. Wollaston), presents, in many characters, 

 (such as its rostrum, intermediate coxae, scutellum, etc.) 

 a great resemblance to the Rhynchophora ; and has been 

 placed in the Salpingidae. It is found abroad on flowers 

 (chiefly Umbelliferce] ; and it has been remarked that, 

 like certain of the Curculionidce, and in particular those 

 of the genus Larinus (to which it has some resemblance 

 in form), it is covered with a yellowish pubescence which 

 is renewable during life, after having been rubbed off. 



