346 THE LOWEE AMAZONS. Chap. VII. 



were met with which are not known in any other part of 

 South America. The small-leaved bushes and low trees 

 on the skirts of the forest and along the more open 

 pathways were sparingly tenanted by a variety of 

 curious phytophagous beetles. None of these offered 

 any remarkable feature, except perhaps the species of 

 Chlamys. These are small beetles of a cubical shape 

 and grotesque appearance, the upper surface of their 

 bodies being studded with tubercles. They look like 

 anything rather than insects ; some of them are an 

 exact imitation of the dung of caterpillars on leaves ; 

 others have a deceptive likeness to small flower-buds, 

 galls, and other vegetable excrescences, whilst some 

 large kinds are like fragments of metallic ore. They 

 are very sluggish in their motions, and live in the most 

 exposed situations on the surface of leaves ; their curious 

 shapes are therefore no doubt so many disguises to pro- 

 tect them from the keen eyes of insectivorous birds and 

 lizards. A nearly allied group, the Lamprosomas, of 

 which several species occurred in the same places, have 

 perfectly smooth convex bodies ; these glitter like pre- 

 cious stones on the foliage, and seem to be protected 

 by the excessive hardness of their integuments. The 

 Eumolpidse and Galerucidse, two groups belonging also 

 to the leaf-eating family, were much more numerous 

 than the Chlamydes and Lamprosomas, although having 

 neither the disguised appearance of the one nor the hard 

 integuments of the other ; but many of them secrete a 

 foul liquor when handled, which may perhaps serve the 

 same purpose of passive defence. The Chlamydes are 

 almost confined to the warmer parts of America, and 



