yg INSECTS ABROAD. 



The Beetle which is here represented can be at once referred 

 to its proper genus, if only by bhe shape of the ridges on its 

 elytra. It is really a remarkable insect, and deserves a fuller 

 notice than our limited space will permit It has a considerable 

 geographical range, as I have examined specimens that were 

 taken in Borneo and India. 



The general colour is dull black, and upon the elytra there 

 are large spots of a paler hue, which evidently ought to show 

 some definite colour. If a brush charged with benzine be drawn 

 over the elytra, there is an instantaneous change, the lighter 

 portions showing themselves as dull red, and the rest of the 



Fig. 88.— Necrodes glganteus. 



n'k, with dull red marks.) 



elytra assuming a deeper black. Benzine, by the way, is an 

 invaluable aid in detecting colour in dark and apparently 

 uniform insects. It can be used without the least danger. It 



porates almost as soon as applied, and does not injure the 

 most delicate of tissues, but, on the contrary, destroys any 

 parasites that may exist in the specimen, and makes it peculiarly 

 distasteful to any that may happen to attack it afterwards. 



The antennae of this Beetle are very remarkable in their 

 structure. I can only describe the organ by likening it to a string 

 of birds' eggs threaded on a grass stem, and tipped with a crown 

 piece. The antenna consists of a number of oval and nearly 

 equal joints, and at the end is one flat, circular joint, that 

 irresistibly suggests the simile which has been mentioned, 



The head and thorax are black, and the latter is boldly, not 

 to say coarsely, granulated. The thighs of the hind legs arc 

 enormously huge and powerful, like those of the grasshopper or 



