50 THE YOUNG COLLECTOR'S 



Britain, are also flower-loving beetles. The commonest species 

 is the Rose Chafer (Cetonia Aurata), a beautiful green beetle, 

 slightly marked with white on the elytra ; the under surface is a 

 deep golden bronze. The larva feeds on rotten wood, and the 

 beetle, which is very active in the sunshine, is found nestling 

 in or flying around roses and other flowers. This insect is 

 said to be used as a specific for hydrophobia in Russia ; and 

 the statement has been repeated so long and so frequently, 

 that it appears to deserve more serious attention than it has 

 yet received. 



The Sternoxi are rather long and narrow beetles, with hard 

 elytra covering the whole abdomen, and with serrated or oc- 

 casionally pectinated antennae. The two principal families are 

 the Buprestidce and the Elateridce; in the latter the under surface 

 of the prosternum has a projection behind, which fits into a 

 hollow in the mesothorax. 



The Biiprestida are distinguished by the hinder angles of the 

 thorax not being pointed, and by their not being able to leap. 

 This group includes the splendid green beetles so common in the 

 tropics, but is only represented by a few small green, blue, 

 bronzy, or black species in England, the largest of which scarcely 

 exceed a quarter of an inch in length. The larvae of all the 

 on wood. 



The Elaferidcz, or Click Beetles, may readily 

 be known by the hinder angles of the 

 thorax being pointed, and by their power of 

 jumping up, with a slight clicking noise, when 

 laid on the back. Most of the species are 

 black, or bronzed, or partly black and partly 

 yellow ; Elater Sanguineus, which we have 

 figured, is a bright scarlet insect, with a black 

 c . , head and thorax. The beetles are commonly 



(Ehtter Sangni- me ^ with on Bowers, etc., in the daytime ; and 

 ). Nat. Size, their larvae are too well known everywhere, as 

 "wire-worms," being long and slender, with 

 a very tough skin, and feeding on the roots of plants. 

 The Fire Flies of South America are large species of Ela- 

 teridce, but I am not aware that any European species emits 

 light. 



The Malacoderviata are not very unlike the Elaterida in shape, 

 but rather shorter. They have slender antennae (rarely pecti- 

 nated), and their elytra are generally very soft and flexible, and 

 quite unlike the hard horny elytra of most other beetles ; several 

 of the less typical families, however, have hard integuments. 



