Chap. Y. LONGICOE:^^ BEETLES. 209 



of trees (Coptodera, Goniotropis, Morio,&c.), others run- 

 ning over the slender twigs, branches, and leaves (Cte- 

 nostoma, Lebia, Calophaena, Lia, &c.), and many were 

 concealed in the folds of leaves (Calleida, Agra, &c.). 

 Most of them exhibited a beautiful contrivance for 

 enabling them to cling to and run over smooth or flexible 

 surfaces, such as leaves. Their tarsi or feet are broad, 

 and furnished beneath with a brush of short stiff hairs, 

 whilst their claws are toothed in the form of a comb, 

 adapting them for clinging to the smooth edges of 

 leaves, the joint of the foot which precedes the claw 

 being cleft so as to allow free play to the claw in grasping. 

 The common dung-beetles at Caripi, which flew about- 

 in the evening like the Geotrupes, the familiar " shard- 

 borne beetle with his drowsy hum " of our English lanes, 

 were of colossal size and beautiful colours. One kind 

 had a long spear-shaped horn projecting from the crown 

 of its head (Phangeus lancifer). A blow from this 

 fellow, as he came heavily flying along, was never very 

 pleasant. All the tribes of beetles w^hich feed on vege- 

 table substances, fresh or decayed, were very numerous. 

 The most beautiful of these, but not the most common, 

 were the Longicomes ; very graceful insects, having 

 slender bodies and long antennae, often ornamented with 

 fringes and tufts of hair. They were found on flowers, 

 on trunks of trees, or flying about the new clearings. 

 One small species (Coremia hirtipes) has a tuft of hairs 

 on its hind legs, whilst many of its sister species have a 

 similar ornament on the antennae. It suggests curious 

 reflections when we see an ornament like the feather 

 of a gi'enadier's cap situated on one part of the 



